Daughter of Rome
by shinigamigirl196
Summary: Andromeda was no ordinary girl, but what she would have never anticipated was immortality or becoming so involved with the Greek side of things, because she had no love for Greece, that could be certain. But it was a bit more difficult to hate Greece when her own brother and friend were of its bloodline. Why couldn't she have been a normal demigod and not Neptune's daughter?
1. Growing Up Roman

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter**

**Daughter of Rome Chapter One: Growing Up Roman**

* * *

Nobody asks to be a half-blood, and anyone who said different could take a leaf out of Andromeda Snow's book…maybe even several leafs, depending on who you were.

The poor child had been born with a weak heartbeat and within an hour of her birth it had ceased to function. It was Zeus –the much kinder Greek counterpart of the girl's uncle- that pitied her and he was persuaded by the titaness, Asteria, who had long eluded him. And when she spoke, Zeus listened, for Asteria was the Titan of Nocturnal Prophecy, the one who foretold of death and darkness, the titan that presided over the night and the stars, the mother of Hecate. Asteria was not one to insult lightly, nor ignore her requests.

And so, Zeus threw down a lightning bolt that shot through her and vibrated in her entire being, forcing the charge into her heart and making it heal and strengthen, pumping the blood into her veins once more. Asteria thanked the god for his kindness before shattering into a shower of stars, eluding him for the second time and watching over the little demigoddess who had such hardships awaiting her…

Sally Jackson smiled weakly as she stood over the incubator that held her fragile premature daughter. Andromeda Atalanta Jackson was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. Her hair was in short white wisps, clinging to her scalp as she slumbered peacefully. She had a very Italian look about her with her deep olive complexion, but Sally wasn't sure where that gene had come from…Andromeda's father, perhaps? The second time he had come around there had been something very different about him, something more militant and severe, but she had loved him all the same, and she had borne him a second child despite knowing how much danger she would be putting her children in; she just couldn't help it.

"Miss Jackson?"

Sally's eyes raised from her daughter's relaxed form to peer at the woman dressed in nurse scrubs. She had eyes silver like the moon and auburn hair tied into a tight braid. The woman smiled kindly. "Miss Jackson, you can hold your daughter now."

The thought initially terrified her. She feared both awaking her daughter and causing her accidental harm.

"You need not worry, Sylvia Jackson, you daughter is very well." The woman's voice rang with the same sort of ancient wisdom that Poseidon's had, and Sally knew at once that she was in the presence of a goddess. She opened her mouth to greet her, but she had vanished into a stream of moonlight.

"Thank you," she whispered under her breath to the empty room. Her heart sped, skipping a beat as she lifted the small infant from the incubator to cradle her in her arms. She was light, and small, typical of a premature baby. Her eyelids fluttered slightly from the movement, but she did not awaken.

Sally didn't know how long she stood there, simply reveling in the feel of her vitality.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

Sally looked up sharply, this time to see a red-haired woman with eyes the exact shade of green that Percy had. She smiled apologetically. "Are you Sally? Sally Jackson?"

Confusion colored her blue irises as she gazed at the young woman. "How do you know my name?" she asked politely.

"Oh, Father told me," the woman said evasively. "You're his ex-girlfriend, right?"

Sally blinked, disconcerted by just how cheery this woman, who had identified herself as a demigod, and not just a demigod, but also a daughter of Poseidon.

"I'm Lily Potter," she explained politely, shaking Sally's hand gently, "demigoddess of the sea."

"I thought you had his eyes," Sally murmured almost to herself, but Lily caught it all the same, smiling softly in such a way that made her eyes brighten considerably.

"May I hold her?" Lily Potter asked politely, raising up her arms slightly as she finished her question.

Sally's first reaction was to clutch her baby to her chest, but she could sense that this young woman meant no harm to her –mother's intuition, she supposed-, that and Andromeda had finally awakened and was staring avidly at Lily's crimson waves, having never seen such a color before in her time among the living. And so, Sally reluctantly bestowed the infant upon her elder sister. It made her feel better when Lily's face lit up like a Christmas tree as she held the girl, rocking her gently back and forth.

"She's a beauty," she said in a murmur, watching as Andromeda's fingers tugged gingerly on a fiery lock. "What's her name?"

"Andromeda Atalanta Jackson," Sally said proudly, earning her a soft chuckle from her companion.

"It is a good name, for a demigoddess," Lily said kindly, "a strong name…Hello, Andromeda, I'm your older sister, Lily, and one day, you and your brother and mother will come and see me in London…we children of the sea must stick together, you know," Lily's face had turned to mock-severity as she surveyed the small demigoddess. "You will be beautiful and brilliant," she said speaking softer now, "a true incarnation of the sea with all its beauty and mystery."

Little did Andromeda Jackson know, she was correct, as she settled back into the arms of her mother. But her life with her mother was short lived as she was taken from her barely weeks after her revival by circumstances beyond her control.

For years Sally Jackson could not even bring herself to even say the child's name, and Percy tried to stray as far away from any topics that revolved around Andromeda Jackson, mostly to keep his mother from being so depressed.

And so, Andromeda grew up, trained by the wolf goddess Lupa as all Roman demigods were. Unaware of her mother and sibling, only of the blades she could hold in her hands and the destruction she could create. She was one of the few demigods who stayed much longer than intended at Wolf House, because she was quite fond of the she-wolf who would sometimes take the shape of a woman. Lupa taught her many things, about the gods, about herself, she taught her how to be fierce and unrelenting, how to be as cutthroat as one could be towards the enemy. It grew to so much that Andromeda had begun to consider the goddess to be more of her mother than the one she truly had back in Britain.

Andromeda felt more at home at Wolf House than she did at Camp Jupiter, but Lupa assured her that would pass, but Andromeda wasn't so sure. Mostly because Jason Grace was making her life a living hell.

Andromeda Snow knew she and Jason Grace were going to be enemies before they even said two words to each other. The kid may have been the son of Jupiter, but he was a complete and utter ass, if one pardoned her French. Andromeda was the most hated, but at the same time, the most powerful demigod in Camp Jupiter, and it wasn't his father that made her angry (as technically speaking, the two were cousins), because she didn't really mind Jupiter. It was the fact that he was accepted into the camp with open arms, while she was constantly scorned. It made her bitter with resentment and burning with disgust. And she displayed such feelings through violence, unsurprisingly of a Roman.

"Centurion Snow!" a voice called, and Andromeda gave one last glare at the son of Jupiter before giving her full attention to her superior, one of the senators of Fourth Cohort, William -everyone called him Bill though- Weasley. "A word please?" He was one of the only people Andromeda could stand; an older boy with hair like fire and kind brown eyes who had several siblings, though only a few attended camp, being legacies.

Jason's cruel laughter rang in her ears, thinking she was going to get into trouble –yet again-, but Andromeda had already slipped into what her friends now called the 'Lupa mask'; cold, detached, but fierce all the same.

"Senator Weasley," she said coolly, bowing to him before straightening up once more, "were my results inadequate or shameful to our cohort, sir?" She assumed so; any action she took seemed to bring shame to Fourth Cohort. But, as all knew, inaction was worse than action…still, even by demigod standards, Andromeda was excessively ADHD. She practically vibrated if she sat still for too long.

Bill's smile held the sort of tenderness she would expect a brother to give her, but she had no brothers. She supposed this was something one felt when they had siblings, as Bill had six –as unbelievable as it was. But, then, Bill considered the Fourth Cohort to be his extended family when he wasn't at home or in school.

"Your results were perfect, Andromeda," he assured her, "there is no need to look so worried." He assumed it was from the sheer amount of punishments she had had to undergo; they had not been pretty to watch. He was certain that half of her scars were from the punishments, but he wasn't one to ask; she would probably shove a knife through his shin for good measure.

Andromeda schooled her features, scoffing slightly, denying his thoughts. "I am not worried, Senator, but I would like to get back to my training-" Her legs twitched as if ready to streak of in the opposite direction, anywhere where she could fight and better herself through the intensive training Camp Jupiter provided. Sometimes Bill wondered if she wasn't a daughter of Bellona or Ares, given by how distinctly war-like her personality was.

As she moved, her only medal gleamed in the sunlight; she had been awarded the Naval Crown just weeks previously. Normally the Naval Crown was awarded to those who managed to board an enemy's ship, but since Andromeda almost drowned the enemy, securing a win for the Fourth Cohort, they thought it was the only medal that qualified; many had wanted her thrown out for causing serious bodily harm (which she hadn't). Senator Weasley had been proud to pin it on her regulation armor, deeming her, officially a Centurion (though technically speaking she'd been one since her first year at camp) in the eyes of other demigods.

"The Electoral Battles are nearly upon us," the legacy of Mercury said, informing her of the battle that occurred every solstice, securing the places of the Senators of each cohort. At seven years, she now had the option to participate in the battles as the strongest Fourth Cohort had to offer, "and as you know, Senator Revain has opted to step down from her post. I'm sure she told you she wanted you to participate as her successor."

Andromeda's eyes shifted away from his. "She might have mentioned something about that," she muttered almost under her breath. Coleen Revain's shoes would be difficult to fill, she was a daughter of Bellona who was well liked, that alone should have put Andromeda out of the running, at least, according to Octavian, the little brat that claimed to be the Augur. Andromeda was the least likely candidate for Senator and she would be winning no points for popularity.

"You should do it," Bill said, his voice telling her he had complete assurance in his words. She arched a pale eyebrow at him, but said nothing, bowing again and disappearing off to find Carmella and Marlene where she had last seen them at Target Practice. Carmella was tossing her Imperial Gold knife elaborately up and down in her hand, a bored expression on her young, but beautiful, face. Carmella was a daughter of Venus, but was distinctly more war-like than her passive siblings.

She blew a strand of golden-brown (Carmella had been aptly named, you see) hair from her violet eyes which had narrowed as she positioned her pilum over her shoulder, putting her weight against the ground as she threw it. Unfortunately, it flew shy of Marlene Thomas' (Carmella and Andromeda's other best friend and daughter of Mars) pilum, lodging in the grass several yards away.

Marlene curled her fingers in a 'give me' gesture, grinning as Carmella glared, handing over a few denarii while looking particularly sulky. It made Andromeda smile.

"Your turn, Andy!" Marlene chirped impishly, readying the pilum gripped in her hand. Andromeda did her best not to notice the crimson substance at the end of its sharp tip, a substance that looked suspiciously like blood.

"No thanks," Andromeda said after a long moment, her narrowed eyes peering out past the boundary line to the raging surf of the Tiber River, as if searching for an enemy. She had always longed to go out into the world, but each request had been firmly denied, much to her irritation.

"_Be very careful, daughter of the sea, even for demigods, your scent is one of the most powerful."_ That warning echoed in her ears as clear as the day it was spoken.

"Andy?"

"Hm?" Green eyes cleared as they found themselves gazing into vibrant purple orbs. The concern that Carmella's oddly colored eyes held for her was touching, but unneeded. "It's nothing, Mella, don't look so worried."

True to her stubborn nature, Carmella didn't back down, and was joined by their equally stubborn best friend.

"So, what's up?" Marlene asked in a falsely innocent manner that fooled no one. She dug the end of her spear into the ground, leaning her weight on it as she peered at her friend. "Bill called you over, right? What'd he say?"

The leaves crunched under Andromeda's sandaled foot as she pondered how to answer that question. The cool air brushed past her cheek, but she did not take notice to much of it; she was far too used to the weather of California.

"I've been nominated to perform in the Electoral Battles."

Carmella who had gulping down a bottle of water sacrificed a mouthful to the god of spit-take as she gaped at the whitette, and she wasn't the only one. Marlene was now staring at her as if she had never quite seen her clearly.

"Uh…what?"

Andromeda didn't feel the need to repeat herself, opting to shoot them both glares. "What d'you mean 'what'?"

Carmella patted her shoulder with a pitying look. "Um…Andy, you know that you aren't a people person, right?"

Marlene smothered her giggles at the venomous glare Andromeda shot at the child of Venus. But Andromeda soon discovered that Marlene was not alone in thinking that near the end of the Electoral Battles the next day.

If Andromeda Snow could get a penny for every point in her pathetically short life where she felt truly angry…well, she'd have _a lot_ of pennies.

Having Jason Grace in the crowd booing her as she completed the Electoral Battles was one of those moments. A low growl issued from her lips, her fingers sparking slightly, but she focused on the task at hand. Senator Revain had passed the trials without any major mortal injuries, and Andromeda was determined to surpass her. Her blood burned in her veins, turning to fire as she hefted a short trident slightly shorter than the length of her body in one hand and a blade that shimmered silver in the sunlight. They were the only gifts her father had given his misfortunate daughter, and Andromeda was sure he'd done it out of pity. Girls were not the favorites of Neptune. He deemed daughters too weak to bear his line because they generally didn't live long enough to bring pride to his name.

She huffed in annoyance, slamming the hilt of her blade into the helmet of a Second Cohort member, downing him in one blow, before moving onto the last one, a member of First Cohort, a daughter of Ceres by the name of Lauren Gottings. She was well known for her hard hits, but Andromeda was well known for her evasive maneuvers, so it was an even playing field. At least, that was what she thought until a great wooden spike nearly speared her through the heart.

Andromeda scowled. She had not come this far and undergone extra rigorous training with Lupa to lose to a First! She slammed her fist into the ground, causing a great tidal wave to erupt and sweep over the girl's body, encasing her body in ice by sheer willpower.

It was only when she heard the words "I forfeit," that she realized that she had won.

She dropped her hands, still in shock as Lauren came up to her holding out a hand. "Good fight," Lauren said with a grin, despite how short the battle was, "you'll make a fine Senator, Miss Snow."

Andromeda blinked in surprise, staring after her as she went to the arms of her boyfriend from Third Cohort, surprised by the sudden compliment. But what really made her day was her friends yelling and screaming and Fourth Cohort cheering as Bill lifted her up to rest on his shoulders. Andromeda didn't think that she'd ever smiled so much in her whole life, and she was still smiling not ten minutes later when Coleen took her aside to present her with the pure white toga.

The pale material felt strange against her hands, like it was made of water.

"It's beautiful," Andromeda murmured, lifting it up and letting it pool on the floor as she examined it closely.

"It is, isn't it?" Coleen mused with a smile. "It'll look even better when its colored."

"Colored?" Andromeda asked in confusion, quirking an eyebrow at the ex-Senator.

"When you've been a senator for a certain number of years," Coleen explained, "you gain a seniority over other senators and are then allowed to color the material to showcase that seniority."

"Oh."

Coleen smiled. "You'll get used to it, trust me. I'll leave you to it, then." And then she disappeared out of the barracks and out of New Rome, making for her new life in Michigan, hoping sincerely to leave her monster-slaying days behind her, but aware of the reality that that was highly unlikely.

For awhile Andromeda just looked at the fabric, not quite comprehending what it was, until she finally pulled it over her small short body. Automatically, the material shrank to fit her frame, making her grin and twirl around for good measure.

The pleasantness she was feeling came to a rather sudden halt, though, when Marlene and Carmella –red and angry- practically pulled her out of the barracks to show her what had upset them so.

"Go back where you came from, artist!" one demigod yelled, tossing a bucket of ice water onto the fallen girl, while the others howled with laughter behind him, unaware of the attention they had gained.

"How the mighty have fallen," a voice commented dryly, causing each member of the mob to twist around sharply, coming face to face with three pairs of angry eyes. The eyes were brown, green, and purple respectively, the eyes of: Marlene Thomas, daughter of Mars; Andromeda Snow, daughter of Neptune; and Carmella Romano, daughter of Venus. This was a trio that none of the cohorts dared to anger. No one wanted to be on the opposite side of Marlene's sword, Peleus, which granted victory to its wielder, Carmella's crafty strategy, or Andromeda's fierce anger. The girls glared, and the bullies scampered faster than was believed possible.

Andromeda held out a hand to the fallen girl, lifting her up with as much ease as a child her age could have. "Don't worry; we're not all like that. I'm Andromeda Snow, who're you?"

She raised her stormy-grey eyes to meet each pair of inquisitive eyes, "I am Callie Evaine, daughter of Athena."

Andromeda thought that was a bit strange, to refer to her mother by her Greek name where the Greek were hated most fervently, maybe she didn't know. She wondered why she had called her that, but she didn't comment much on it, hoping not to set her off, as she was looking quite emotional, as it was.

Carmella smirked. "Impressive; I guess you'll just have to show First Cohort you can wield a sword as well as any needle."

Callie groaned softly, her shoulders slumping slightly, making her look much smaller and shorter than she was. "I'm terrible at sewing."

"Even better," the three told her with identical grins, Andromeda's being, by far, the most feral.

Andromeda threw her arm over Callie's shoulders. "You'll fit right in with Fourth Cohort, _Civetta_." (Owl)

* * *

"_What?!"_

Andromeda had never been so angry in her whole life as she was right now, sitting across from her mother as she lay on her deathbed, or the woman who she had believed was her mother. How could she have believed such an elaborate lie?

Her mother coughed hoarsely. "Oh, don't give me that look, Andromeda, you must have known I could never love you...you muggles think so highly of yourselves!"

"Go to Hades!" Andromeda snarled, kicking her chair back, yanking the door open, before turning back to the dying woman with cold eyes, much colder than a child her age should have, "If you're not dead by the time I return, I'll kill you myself."

The threat was empty, and her mother knew it; Andromeda didn't have the heart to kill her, but, nonetheless, the woman didn't even last five minutes.

Andromeda watched from a crack in the door, sighing as the woman quietly passed from the world. She couldn't help but feel a little sad, after all, despite all her flaws, she had raised her, even if it was just a little.

"Mistress Andromeda?" the throaty voice of Kreacher spoke beside her, and she jumped violently.

She gasped for air. "Wha-oh! Kreacher!"

"Is Mistress leaving?" the elf asked patiently, for through a blood adoption she was his mistress now.

Andromeda gave a sad sigh, a faraway look in her eyes. "Yes, Kreacher, I'm sorry, but I need-"

Kreacher nodded in understanding. "Kreacher will keep the manor in order while Mistress is gone," he said stoutly.

She smiled weakly. "Thank you, Kreacher."

The house-elf handed her a box and disappeared.

The box itself was gorgeously handcrafted with swirling designs like waves rising to crash against the bank, and each wave had been painted with a beautiful combination of greens, blues, and whites. Andromeda slid her fingers over the design in wonder, before forcing herself to twist the clasp and open the chest. Inside laid an assortment of trinkets. The first she saw was a wand, beautifully crafted like the box; it too had intricate wave designs. In awe, Andromeda lifted the wand from its resting place, giving a startled gasp as green and blue sparks erupted from the tip. The scrap of parchment that had rested beneath read: Willow, 10 ¼ inches, swishy, core of Nereid hair. A small ring box contained the Black Family ring, but it was both too big for her and she could not bring herself to wear it. A pouch held several very old keys that opened the vaults that were now hers at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. And a second pouch held the necessary books for the average witch or wizard.

Andromeda shut the chest with a snap and tucked it safely under her arm as she shouted "Camp Jupiter!" throwing powder into the fireplace, which burst into a vibrant green, whisking her away to her true home, and away from the heartbreak that her "mother" had caused.

The single tear she shed turned to ice.


	2. The Foretelling of Asteria

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter**

**Daughter of Rome: Chapter Two: The Foretelling of Asteria**

**AN: Thanks for the positive response! This is the revised version of my original Daughter of Rome, so a large number of the aspects are going to be the same, but I realized that the old Daughter of Rome kind of sucked and I didn't put much of an effort into it, so this time I'm going to try a bit more. So, Sting of the Blade, Daughter of Rome's sequel is going to be on hold for a little while.**

* * *

Andromeda was as white as a ghost, but at least she was on the mend. The wounds would heal, but the scars would remain, a constant reminder that even the strongest could be broken. Callie Evaine sat beside her bedside, as the three of Andromeda's friends had decided to switch out so at least one of them would be awake when she finally woke up.

They were all angry about the botched quest she had been assigned. It should have been routine, a simple retrieval of demigods mission that only senators were allowed to take on. But somehow the enemy had found them soon after they'd found the two brothers (children of Vulcan), and the male senator she had been with had been slaughtered brutally. Andromeda herself had to buy time for the brothers to pass the Pomerian Line, and that time had cost her, because she fell victim to a notorious demigod. This one had gone as south as they could go, and his name was Nox Baccry, son of Bacchus.

No one really knew what he'd done to get kicked out of camp, but it must have been very bad. Andromeda was an example of his prowess in his father's art, madness.

Constant prayers had been sent up to Bacchus by her friends at every mealtime, and the Fates had finally smiled upon them.

Andromeda's fragmented sanity and torn mentality had been carefully pieced back together, but the effects of her stay with Bacchus' son were yet to be seen, and Callie was certain that they would be seen sooner or later.

They all worried, constantly, but worrying wouldn't change anything.

"Um…Evaine?"

Callie looked up to survey the Weasley boy with cold grey eyes. Andromeda may have liked them, but Callie didn't like them nearly as much. She had no time for their constant pranks. "What?"

Fred Weasley flinched slightly. "If you want to get some rest, George and I can take the next shift."

"I'm fine."

Her words were as direct as ever, edged with steel, daring them to contradict her, and the twin had disappeared in seconds, leaving Callie to turn her attention back to her slumbering friend.

Callie didn't belong in Camp Jupiter, she was a Greek, she didn't even know how she even got there, to be honest. She didn't fit in anywhere until Andromeda and her friends offered her a place by their sides, somewhere she could belong. One couldn't just go around saying they were Greek, that would probably get her a pilum through the chest faster than it would take her to blink. So she kept her mouth shut about the Greek blood pumping through her veins.

And she waited beside her friend, hoping for her awakening into the world once more, but unfortunately, it was Marlene who got to see her first, entering the hospital tent for her shift by her bedside.

"You're awake!"

Marlene was overjoyed the next morning when she came into the medical tent to find Andromeda sitting up in her makeshift bed, speaking quietly with Senator Weasley who had his ear leaned close to catch her raspy whispers.

Bill leaned back. "I'll tell the Praetor everything, Andy, you just get some rest." He squeezed her shoulder and stepped out of the tent, leaving his seat vacated for Marlene to plop herself into.

"Hi," Andromeda croaked with a slight smile.

"Hi," Marlene said in a low voice. "How are you?"

"Tired," she rasped. "Hungry. Thirsty. I feel half-dead."

She certainly did look it. Her pale hair (which had recently gained a few colored strands of blue during a recent mission to New York) clung to her scalp, giving off the appearance of being thin and wispy, while her usually dark olive cheeks were nearing a white color, as they had been for the past few days. Though today, Marlene was relieved to note, her cheeks had a bit more of color on them.

Marlene assisted her in holding a cup of nectar to her lips and drinking deeply from it, being careful of how much her friend consumed. Even Andromeda could only drink so much before she became overheated.

Her cheeks became a pale olive, but it was better than the stark white, and her eyes seemed to gain a bit of life.

"I had a dream," she said slowly, her voice still weak, though not a cracked as it had been before, "about a strange woman."

"A woman?" Marlene asked.

Andromeda nodded. "Her hair was a dark as the night sky, and there were stars in it…she saved my life."

"What do you mean?" Marlene asked in surprise. "We prayed to Bacchus for your health."

Andromeda gave a vague smile. "In my dream she convinced him to save me from insanity."

That would be a strange dream, indeed. Marlene frowned could it be true, though? Could a woman be the reason she was still sane?

"It doesn't matter, anyways," Andromeda said with a shrug. "Did Vulcan's sons make it to camp?"

"Yeah," Marlene said, a little grateful for the change of subject, "they raised the alarm and a search party was sent out for you two-" she ignored the snort from Andromeda who couldn't really see anyone coming to her rescue "-but all we found was…" She didn't need to finish that sentence. _The body._

"He was a good Roman," Andromeda said finally, "if he failed in everything else."

That was the highest compliment Marlene had ever heard her friend give.

"Get some rest," Marlene said finally, squeezing her knee through the fabric. "You need to get your strength up."

Andromeda threw her an irritated frown at her words, probably opening her mouth to say something that might learned her tongue a washing out with lye, but then she thought better of it, because, she looked incredibly tired, even though she'd been asleep for most of the past few days.

But Marlene remembered her ramblings quite well, and she was grateful that she had been the only one that heard it:

"…_she shall sit on her icy throne…admiration for death and the unknown…second time…ripped from her Hearth…Lover of Death…"_

It sounded like Andromeda had heard snippets of a prophecy, but Marlene couldn't make heads or tails of the little segments that she had heard.

She shall sit on her icy throne. That could very easily refer to Andromeda herself, she knew, because the girl had an uncanny skill for freezing things, or at least frosting them over…

Admiration for death and the unknown… that one Marlene wasn't so sure about; Andromeda had never mentioned anything of the sort.

But, ripped from her Hearth, applied quite well to Andromeda who had only recently revealed upon the eve of her mother's death that she had been kidnapped as a babe and raised apart from her family. Marlene knew that she hoped to be reunited with them once again, despite the fact that she never mentioned it.

Lover of Death? Now that was worrying. Loving Death never went well for anyone.

Andromeda was already nodding off, so she simply gave her a promise to return in a few hours, and when she did, she had to grab her sword, because there was someone in there with her.

It was a woman, and she had her back to Marlene, reaching out a delicate looking hand to press two fingers to Andromeda's forehead while she slept on. The girl's eyebrows furrowed together at the touch.

"Step away from her," Marlene said in a dangerously quiet voice, hefting her blade before pausing when the woman removed her hands from Andromeda's forehead and turned to survey the daughter of Mars. Her hair was dark…and it was strewn with stars, just like the woman that Andy had described. "You!"

She was so inordinately beautiful that she must have been a god.

The woman smiled. "Stay your blade, daughter of Mars, there is no need for violence."

"You could be a threat," Marlene said half-heartedly, but she had no wish to anger a god. "Andy mentioned having a dream about you…you convinced Bacchus to heal her mind, didn't you?"

"Something of the sort," the woman admitted.

"Why?"

The woman blinked and canted her head in a strangely dog-like manner. "Why…ah. Because, you see, Marlene Thomas, daughter of Mars, I am the reason Andromeda Jackson still lives."

"Her name is Andromeda Snow," Marlene interrupted.

"Snow does suit her better, I must admit," the woman conceded, "but she was born under the name Jackson, so I shall call her such."

"Who are you?" Marlene demanded.

The woman's eyes were a smoky blue as she turned to speak completely to her. "I am Asteria," she said in a commanding voice, "Titaness of Nocturnal Prophecy and the Stars, daughter of Phoebe and Coeus, sister of Leto, and mother of Hecate."

Marlene backpedaled; those were some serious titles.

Asteria turned back to the slumbering child. "Watch over her for me."

* * *

The war games went downhill almost immediately, much to Andromeda's eternal annoyance. It wasn't the other members of Rome that were the problem, really, even though the majority of them hated her guts, no, it was the fact that monsters had somehow gotten across the Tiber River. And of course that was her fault because she was the daughter of the sea.

Really? Gods, they were all idiots.

Andromeda's knife sliced through the hellhound's jugular, making it evaporate into golden dust around her.

"Alright there, Snow?"

Andromeda felt the familiar warmth of Bill's back against hers. "Fine. You?"

They separated and Andromeda swung down the trident in her opposite hand, lodging in the lycanthrope's chest cavity and tossing him back a few paces.

"Where the bloody hell is Terminus?!" Andromeda roared to Bill.

"No idea!" he yelled back, ducking as the injured lycanthrope leapt at him, missing by inches. "But he's down for the count!"

Andromeda swore loudly, her entire body vibrating and sparking as the lightning bolt within her became more active. She let loose a roar of rage, raising her hands up to the sky, not unlike the position of Atlas, her curly, white locks crackling with lightning and sea-green eyes glowing with power. Several things happened as a result. The clouds grew dark overhead, thundering ominously, then the ground became thick with frost and the air became cold like winter. Everyone -demigod, faun, monster- found themselves with ice inching slowly but surely up their bodies until they were all completely encased and Andromeda was looking out at what could be considered an ice version of wizard's chess.

Once she had realized what she had done, Andromeda gulped, attempting to swallow the terror of what she had done. Was anyone still alive? Her friends! Were they-?

"Marlene!" she yelped, leaping over frozen bodies to reach her side. "Callie! Carmella!" But it was useless; the three girls were uncomprehending. A shiver ran down her spine and she quickly averted her eyes at the flash of light that signified the entrance of a god.

Mercury eyed the child before him with surprise; she couldn't have been more than six or seven. Mercury then looked around at the frozen world; he would later admit to her how impressed he was by her power, because he had never met a demigod capable of turning a camp into a winter wonderland. Mercury's calculating eyes gazed upon the child; she was a bit exotic. Her hair, for some unknown reason, was a shocking white strewn with blue and her eyes were green like the sea, they contrasted with the olive of her cheeks. It was quite obvious that she was the daughter of Neptune, if one hadn't seen the trident one her wrist underneath the slash marks that symbolized her years of service, and the white hair…he had heard the stories of the demigod whom Zeus (the kinder counterpart of Mercury's father) had revived, accidentally giving her the Blessing of Jupiter in the process (though it seemed like she didn't use any of those abilities, or maybe she had no knowledge of them). But those had just been stories, he had no idea that they could have possibly been true.

The white senator toga she wore was ripped and stained from the battle, giving her a much more war-like expression than Mercury doubted she had intended.

Andromeda schooled her face into a stoic mask, her lips set in a frown, her fists clenching slightly, as if preparing for a fight, but she didn't say anything to the god as though she was waiting for him to make the first move.

The god of commerce and trade knelt in front of the child. "What is your name, demigod?"

She jutted out her chin defiantly, her rebellious attitude shining through. "Andromeda Snow."

Mercury raised an eyebrow at her name and at the heavy English accent that escaped her lips. "You have a very Greek name for a Roman, Andromeda Snow."

She gave him an exasperated look and spoke wryly, "I know. Are you Mercury?"

"Yes."

"Are you here to kill me?" she asked through narrowed eyes, her fingers clenching around her trident, turning her knuckles white.

"No, I'm here to take you to my father, Lord Jupiter," the god corrected her, "he has commanded your presence, daughter of the sea god."

Fear flashed through her eyes for a second before her face became carefully neutral and she held out a hand to the god who took it, shutting her eyes quickly so she wouldn't burn up for the second time that day.

Andromeda had felt fear more times than she could count, not that she would ever admit to any of that. But none of those other instances -which included the Quest for the Winnowing Oar, which she had undertaken with Carmella and Marlene before she'd met Callie, and stealing the praetor's cloak- could possibly compare to how she felt right now. She stumbled when her feet connected with the ground and almost fell forward, but she regained her balance at the last moment, closing her eyes suddenly when Mercury burned gold.

Andromeda felt like Mercury when Apollo caught him red-handed after he stole his cows; a term that came to be known as deer in the headlights. The godly energy that swirled around Olympus was enough to make Andromeda sick to her stomach and she was sure that she choked on air. Looking upon the palace of the gods filled her with awe and unease. She had never felt so small in her life than at this moment.

None in New Rome had ever visited Olympus, if the gods needed a visitation they would come down to see the Romans in person. Andromeda couldn't help but be impressed by how carefully crafted the architecture was. Even from the outside, Andromeda was stunned.

"Keep up, Daughter of Rome," Mercury commanded lightly, turning back to where the seven-year-old demigoddess had stopped, her mouth gaping open in shock.

It was always fun to see half-bloods' first responses to the great palace of the gods. She was the first Roman in a very long time to walk their halls. He glanced back to look her over once again. The Rome in her sang for recognition…hm, she reminded him a bit of Neptune. That was a bit unfortunate. If she was of Neptune's blood, then she would know a life of harshness. Even Pluto showed more emotion and affection to his children than Neptune did to his daughters.

"What?" she asked, a pale eyebrow arching towards him. She hid her fear well, he noticed, but she was a Roman, so that was to be expected.

"It is nothing," he said after a long moment, holding out a hand for her to take.

She blinked in surprise, her eyes seeming a brighter shade of green than before, and then she smiled. "Thank you for the offer, Lord, but I require no assistance."

He couldn't help but laugh at those words. "How very Roman of you."

Her lips twitched further, but then it fell suddenly as they reached the doors to the throne room.

"How much in trouble am I in?" she asked after a long moment.

"I couldn't say," Mercury said honestly, "my father only commanded that you come before him."

Andromeda nodded in understanding, swallowing thickly as she ascended the staircase. She tried hard not to scowl at him as he snapped his fingers, the great majestic doors opening so suddenly she was sure they had been vanished. Her singular footsteps echoed loudly in the hall as she made her way submissively forward.

Lord Jupiter didn't look so impressive (or maybe, oppressive was a better word) when he was human-sized, though he was still remarkably taller than her.

Andromeda had been expecting someone who looked like an older version of Jason Grace, but that was not the case with the King of the Gods. He was donned in a toga that was as purple as the Praetor's cloak and his hair and beard was a mixture of black and grey, like storm clouds.

"You are brazen, dear niece," he said, his voice filling the entire empty hall.

Andromeda flinched.

"Approach," he commanded of her, and she did, her legs shaking, because she stood in the presence of the god of gods. This was one whom no one wished to anger.

Jupiter leaned forward slightly, drinking in her appearance. The blood of Neptune glowed under her skin and a blue trident had been tattooed across her upper arm in the exact place that it was on his brother's arm. Her skin was olive, which hardly surprised him, her white curls contrasting obviously with the skin and making her eyes more obvious. A stormy green; a whirlwind of many different greens, too many to count.

"I see you still have my lightning bolt." Of course, it was only a replica, only as strong as its beholder, but a child of one of the Big Three didn't really need an extra power boost.

She frowned. "I'm sorry…I don't quite understand…I was brought her because of a lightning bolt?"

So she didn't know. That was…a relief.

"Walk with me, niece," he ordered, turning on his heel, forcing the girl to jog to catch up with him. "Asteria protects what she can of you, but her intervention is little."

"Asteria…" Andromda said slowly, "isn't she a titan?"

"The Titan of Nocturnal Prophecy," Jupiter agreed, "and hence you have fallen into her domain."

Andromeda wanted to open her mouth, but she had no idea of what she could say.

"She has foreseen that you will be gifted a brief immortality," he continued.

"Brief immortality?" Andromeda balked. "Isn't the point of immortality that it lasts forever?"

He glanced down at her and she fought the urge to recoil from those dark blue depths. "You are correct, however, I am much in need of the ears of one who is a demigod."

"Why?" Andromeda blurted out. She really couldn't control that tongue of hers.

"My son, Apollo has foretold of a spy in the demigod ranks, one capable of doing much damage in little time," Jupiter said grimly. "We have no way of knowing why this spy will betray Rome or to whom, and that is why I need you."

"But what does that have to do with me being immortal?" Andromeda asked.

"Why do you think?"

Andromeda frowned lightly. "Well, if I was the spy and I saw someone lose their immortality, I'd think that they would be good recruitment material, they'd probably hate you and then me and the ex-immortal would have a common goal."

"Agreed."

"But there are so many variables not taken into account," Andromeda disagreed, "what if your plan fails? What if there is no spy?"

"Make no mistake, Daughter of Rome," Jupiter said seriously, "there is a spy, and I intend you to be my eyes and ears. Will you deny me that?"

Denying the King of the Gods was not something to do lightly. Andromeda sighed. "Immortality for only a few years, right?"

"Yes."

"Is it going to hurt?"

"Yes."

"Both times?" Granting and having it taken away, she meant.

"Yes."

She sighed again. "Great, that's just what I wanted to hear."

Jupiter waited patiently for her decision, even though he already knew what it was.

"Alright, have at it," she said, giving him a low bow, "it would be an honor to perform this duty for my lord."

And then he placed his palm on her forehead. "Brace yourself, daughter of Neptune, or your spirit will evaporate into nothing and your skin and bones will turn to ash." It sounded an awful lot like what happened when demigods drank too much nectar and eat too much ambrosia.

Andromeda tensed her body, preparing for the pain, but knowing that it wouldn't be enough.

On her head, his palm glowed with godly power and Andromeda was enveloped with a blinding light and warmth, but the warmth and light was quickly replaced by pain. The pain was excruciating, but it was also bearable, like the training at Camp Jupiter. She was sure that she was screaming, but even screaming could not convey the complete agony that she was feeling. She felt like her very molecular structure was being rewritten, as if she was being reborn, stronger and more resilient. Her skin tingled and the lightning bolt inside her vibrated with power, sending sparks across her flesh. Perhaps it was hours or even days later that the pain stopped, but she could not be certain.

She counted her breaths, keeping her eyes closed for as long as she possibly could. She counted to a thousand before she finally opened her intense sea-green eyes. She didn't feel any different, and she certainly didn't look any different.

"Hey, Andy!"

Andromeda blinked as Carmella awoke from her light slumber beside her.

"What happened?" she asked automatically.

"No idea," Carmella admitted, helping her friend sit up in her bed, "After everyone got unfrozen-" Andromeda winced at that little accident of hers, "-Lord Mercury appeared before us, carrying you unconscious." She glanced at her friend. "He said you were given immortality, goddess of ice and tides?"

Andromeda cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I know, shocking, isn't it?" Carmella agreed. "Imagine a little Roman girl agreeing to live forever yet at the same time has an intense fascination with death…"

"Shut up," Andromeda groaned, pressing a hand to her face. "Oh, I'm going to die of embarrassment…did everyone see me unconscious?"

"Yup!" Carmella said cheerfully. "_Everyone_, even Terminus, and Bill, and Praetor, and especially _Jason_!"

Andromeda groaned again, collapsing back into her cushions. Just what she needed, her archenemy seeing her at her weakest. "Why did I have to accept stupid immortality?"

"'Cause you're an idiot," Carmella said agreeably. "Its lunch time, let's head towards the mess hall and try not to smite anyone important, alright?"


	3. Hecate House

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter**

**Daughter of Rome: Chapter Three: Hecate House**

**AN: I should point out that this story was originally written before the reveal in House of Hades, so –sadly- Nico is straight, but I will be incorporating that moment into the third book of the series, I think…I have it all planned out, well, mostly…I do know is that its going to be epic (wink, wink). Also, in case you didn't know, the timelines are a bit skewed with both of PJ and HP timelines altered slightly so that they can fit together in the same universe. And, like in my original, Nico is twelve, he just hasn't hit his growth spurt yet. No that note, enjoy and review!**

* * *

"No, you have to make it harder so it will not break upon impact!" Chione, goddess of snow, slammed her heel onto the icy surface of the lake, making the ice crack and shatter leaving Andromeda with free-flowing water. Andromeda couldn't help but grimace at the sound before raising her arms for what felt like the thousandth time and focusing her energy. She barely noticed the goddess leaving her on her own, and she couldn't help but be a little miffed.

"You look like hell."

Now, this phrase was practically a perky "Good Morning to you!" in Andromeda's world these days. Since she was immortal now, she didn't really have to sleep (though she still enjoyed it), so a great deal of her time was now spent in Quebec with possibly the coldest goddess Andromeda had ever met (not including herself, of course). Chione was a slave-driver and Andromeda almost wished she could still bruise, because she was sure that she would be all black and blue by now.

It wasn't that she wasn't getting anything out of this training, because she was, it was just that she was a very trying individual and making ice for hours on end was very difficult.

Winter was the only good thing that came out of it.

No, she wasn't talking about the season; she was talking about the girl. Winter was the only daughter of Chione and thus was heavily watched and protected, something that angered and irritated her to no end. Her personality was distinctly war-like, so Andromeda liked her right away, and it was she that had spoken.

Her black hair was tied back into a silky plait, whipped about by the wind, drawing attention to the alabaster of her flesh and the brown of her eyes. She smiled. "How's the icing going?"

"As well as you'd expect," Andromeda grumbled to herself, curling her fingers inwards very slowly until the ice began to crystallize and harden, becoming solid beneath her feet which now hovered above the ground, courtesy of an accidental burst of magic from Carmella that had caused her shoes to become the equivalent of Mercury's sandals ("Next time, Mella, aim at something that's not breathing."), something Carmella was still trying to replicate, but with no results like before, forever disappointing her. "How are you?"

Winter's lips twitched slightly upwards before falling slightly into a frown, catching Andromeda's interest right away.

"What's wrong?" she queried, pausing her training to look her new friend full in the face.

"You're leaving soon, aren't you?" Winter inquired.

Andromeda tried to focus on anything but her new friend. "My training's almost complete, and then I'll be heading back to New Ro-"

"Why not come to New York instead?"

Andromeda lifted her gaze from the perfectly formed ice to stare at the daughter of snow, her mouth slightly ajar. "New York?" she repeated. "Why?"

Winter rushed on, grateful that she hadn't completely shot her down. "There's this sort of establishment that demigod misfits go to, a place called Hecate House."

"Hecate House?" Andromeda said blankly. "I've never heard of it…or…wait, isn't that where Angelina Johnson went?"

Winter didn't know any Angelina Johnson. "No idea, but a lot of Hecate's kids live there, that's why it's called Hecate House, you know. Its located in some kind of former theater that's kind of been transformed into some sort of apartment-ish place with lots of room to train and spells cast over it to protect it from monsters, but all newcomers are required to live for two weeks outside of the House to prove their worth, or something."

"And this is a place where you want to go?" Andromeda asked slowly, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Well, they could use a patron goddess," Winter offered with a light smile, her brown eyes bright and begging silently. "Please! It'll be a lot of fun!"

Andromeda frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know, Winter…let me think it over for a bit, alright?"

"Sure!"

Winter stepped back as Andromeda turned into little more than mist, evaporating into thin air, taking her up, up, until she touched ground on Olympus, rematerializing before her father.

She froze, almost accidentally turning to ice as he looked her over. Andromeda looked a great deal like her father, whether she was willing to admit it or not. Her eyes were the exact hue of his, that sea-green that shimmered so many different colors it was almost like looking at the ever-shifting sea. The olive tone of his skin was much like Andromeda's, though hers was more obvious with her pale tresses. And that look of utter disgust was spot on.

He was gone with a swish of his toga and Andromeda suddenly felt the need to sit down.

"Andromeda? Are you alright?"

The daughter of Neptune blinked, staring as Diana's Greek form came into view from around a corner.

"Cousin Artemis," she breathed in relief, "hello. I'm fine, it was just-my father, he-" Andromeda wasn't used to being spoken so kindly to, but suspected that she sympathized with her because she was a virgin goddess and she was a child goddess at the same time. Artemis had a mothering quality, despite what she seemed.

Artemis nodded in understanding, and then she smiled. "Will you walk with me, cousin?"

Andromeda blinked, but complied, linking her arm with the goddess of the moon's, who had shrunk herself so that she was now the appropriate size and height of an average eight year old. "Tell me your troubles, daughter of the sea."

"I have many," Andromeda said dryly, "which ones shall I enlighten you upon?"

Artemis smiled at that, a barest chuckle escaping her lips. "The one that is presently plaguing your mind."

Andromeda sighed as they passed by Urania, the Muse of Astronomy, who gave them both bows despite being laden down with a remarkably heavy looking telescope. "What do you know of Hecate House?" she asked finally.

"Hecate House?" Artemis said in surprise, balking a little. The Mist was very thick around that establishment, there were only several places in the world like it, where Roman and Greek demigods coexisted without knowledge of one another, and when she told Andromeda such, the girl stared at her, slightly stunned.

Andromeda hadn't even known of the existence of Greek demigods until her ascension to immortality, and frankly it still kind of surprised her that they were still around. Greek…the word left a bad taste in her mouth, like a poison.

"How could it be possible for Romans and Greeks to live together without knowing of the others existence?" Andromeda asked, her eyes fastening on Artemis'. "I would have thought they would have killed each other by now."

"You will find that there are many structures across the world, daughter of Neptune, where the Mist is thick and copious. Such as the school that your elder sister attended when she was alive."

"Excuse me?" Andromeda balked slightly at those words. "Did you just say that I have a sister?"

Artemis blinked, her yellow eyes staring curiously at her cousin. "I suppose it makes sense that you have no knowledge of her, she has been dead for several years now, but she has a son…he'd be a few years younger than you."

Andromeda stared at her. "I," she said weakly, "I have a nephew?"

"Indeed," Artemis agreed, surveying the girl for her response, "but there is something else you should know…something that may affect you, but I cannot be certain."

"What d'you mean?" Andromeda asked befuddled.

"There are children like you, Andromeda," Artemis said solemnly, "ones born with too many gifts. Some have their lives bound to objects, some have their lives cut short by the Fates, and some, some are cursed to love Death himself." Her eyes were very much like the moon now, cold and detached. "Even immortality cannot save you from that fate."

Andromeda opened to mouth to say something, but she had no idea what to say.

* * *

Harry James Potter, that was his name. Andromeda watched him from afar, drinking in his appearance as if he would disappear in an instant. His hair was dark and unruly and his skin was pale, nothing like the olive her skin possessed or the lightness of her locks, but the eyes, the eyes were completely identical to hers.

He seemed quieter, shyer, to someone like Andromeda, that was strange, because Andromeda had been outgoing and hardhearted for as long as she could remember.

And then he looked up, his eyes meeting hers. Andromeda had to blink in surprise when a bright smile overtook his features and he waved to her. Reflexively, a smile twitched her lips and she raised a hand to wave back.

In the time it had taken him to blink, she had vanished, leaving the boy looking a bit bemused.

Andromeda's knees buckled in Nevada, where she had suddenly materialized. It was an ability known as vapor travel that only children of sea gods and goddesses were capable of, just as the death gods children were capable of shadow travel and the sky gods children were capable of wind travel. She had only known of a son of Volturnus (god of the waters) and the great-great-granddaughter of Caelus (the personification of the sky) that could use the ability, but perhaps it was simply because they were the only ones that tried, and they weren't a fan.

Wind travel was by far the easiest, because you could exchange yourself for the air of a certain place, in fact, it was probably as close to teleportation as any of the three major travel types. Vapor travel involved breaking yourself down to the molecular level, so you were just particles in the air. Andromeda's didn't turn out the exact way she had planned, and because her skills rested more in ice than water, her whole body would turn to ice and then shatter, reappearing anywhere she wanted.

It sounded like a handy skill, and it was, but it was a bit painful too, like when you'd been running so long that your heart beat impossibly fast, that's what it felt like.

She rested a hand against her heart, waiting for it to calm down when a water bottle was dangled in front of her eyes.

"Go on, take it."

She did, looking up and into a pair of wide, curious brown eyes.

"_You!_" she said suddenly, completely stunned. "I know you!"

"Well, you did fall on me," the boy said rather brightly.

"How old are you?" Andromeda asked curiously, looking him up and down. He was wearing the exact same clothes and the same pack of cards in his pocket, had the same rumpled dark hair, sharp angular features, and smiling lips. In the back of her mind she recognized that he was very cute, but that didn't really matter.

"Twelve," the boy said with a grin, "and Bianca's thirteen."

"Bianca?" Andromeda said blankly.

"My sister," he said cheerfully. "I'm Nico, by the way, Nico di Angelo."

Of angels…his name was a bit romantic; few had that luxury.

"Italian?" Andromeda guessed, canting her head slightly at him.

Nico di Angelo nodded, gazing avidly at her. He had only caught sight of her about three seconds before she fell off the balcony, slamming into him, and then a few seconds after. She was remarkably short, he noticed, and young, younger than him. Her eyes were a deep and dark green that seemed to be perpetually angry, contrasting with the light color of her hair. The dark clothes that she wore told him she was a bit punker than she seemed.

"I've got to ask…," Nico said, staring fixedly at her snow-white curls spun with dark blue as if they were out of the world, "Is your hair natural?"

Andromeda sighed. How many times had someone asked her that question? Too many to count, really, but at least he wasn't being rude about it. "Yes…"

But then he did something she did not expect; he grinned brightly and said, "Whoa! Really? That's so cool! I wish my hair was like that!"

"It wouldn't look very good on you, trust me," she said dryly. She would never wish her pale hair on anyone…and really –speaking from Carmella's perspective- white hair would not go well with his dark eyes at all. "Dark hair suits you better."

He arched a dark eyebrow, and, feeling uncomfortable, Andromeda unscrewed the lid from her bottle and drank a long swig.

"So, what kind of name is Andy Gotta-go?"

Andromeda blinked and then she laughed. "Oh, sorry about that, my name's Andromeda, but everyone calls me Andy, 'cause Andromeda's a mouthful. So, Andy Jackson, nice to meet you…I guess." She scratched her head in confusion before looking around her. Lotus Hotel and Casino…she'd only been here once and that was because she chasing some hellhounds with Bill…and she'd fallen off a small balcony…and the rest they say is history. How embarrassing.

"_Lotus Hotel and Casino…only the foolish enter there," Lupa snarled._

"_Why is that, Lupa?" asked Andromeda._

"_It is the lair of the Lotus-eaters, designed so that anyone who enters will never want to leave; they can remain inside forever never aging, playing games for all eternity."_

"_That sounds awful!" Andromeda gasped in horror._

"_For some," the wolf goddess agreed,__ leaving Andromeda to wonder who would prefer to remain._

Andromeda couldn't help but wonder if he chose to stay here of his own accord, or if he was forced to.

"Are you British? You sound British."

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk a lot?" she inquired.

He grinned. "You haven't answered my question."

"I'm Italian," she said, "but I was raised in Britain; the accent sort of just stuck."

"Nico!"

A slightly older girl than Nico was striding towards them. Andromeda noticed that she looked like a female version of Nico, though her face was shadowed by long dark hair and a floppy green cap. "Nico! Where did you go? Who are you bothering now?"

Andromeda frowned. "He's not bothering me," she said huffily. "He just gave me some water."

"Oh." Bianca di Angelo blushed crimson as Andromeda braced her hands against her knees, pushing herself into a standing position.

It was only then that Andromeda recognized that odd smell that covered their bodies (she supposed that was a side-effect of becoming a goddess). They were Greek, there was something about the pair that had immediately set off warning signals in her brain, making her hair stand on end; foreign danger. The older kids at Camp Jupiter had talked about how some kids left the Legion and rejected the Roman ideas, practicing a more ancient form of fighting, but Andromeda knew this was different. Nico and Bianca were Greek, like proper Greek.

"Andromeda Jackson," she said to the girl, "everyone calls me Andy."

"Bianca di Angelo," the older girl said apologetically, "sorry about earlier…my brother gets into a lot of trouble."

Nico stuck his tongue out at his sister from behind her back; Andromeda had to stifle a smirk.

"Trust me, trouble's what I do best."

She straightened her jacket and the movement caused her medals to catch the light, but only for a second before they were shrouded with Mist once more. "It was nice to meet you," she said, the fingers of her right hand resting on her thigh where a knife was strapped to the denim, "but I should get going before my friends get too paranoid."

Bianca watched as she spared her brother a quick but confused glance before disappearing into the crowd of people.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen her somewhere before," Nico mused aloud, scratching his head, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

Bianca frowned because she didn't recognize the girl at all, so where could Nico have seen her from?

* * *

"So you're the new goddess?"

Andromeda had been gazing around Hecate House with an expression very close to awe.

It was a theatre, just like Winter said it would be. It had been cleared out; –no chairs or stage in sight- but it was a theatre nonetheless. Climbing ropes hung from the high domed ceiling, there was a particularly treacherous climbing wall, –much more dangerous than the one she'd seen and a forging area. It was very widespread; Andromeda could see demigods sparing in the open area and climbing the wall or ropes, while others lounged around reading books whether they were writer by mortals or demigods. She was so taken by the settlement that she almost missed that someone was speaking to her.

Angelina Johnson hadn't changed very much in the past year. Her golden eyes shimmered and her restrained dreadlocks swung with every movement. Trivia's daughter couldn't help but grin.

"Hey, Andy, or should I say…Jack Frost?" Her grin was more impish now, earning her an eye twitch from the barely-older-than-her witch.

Andromeda couldn't stifle the groan. "Gods, I'd hoped that nickname would die out…its so embarrassing!"

The dark-skinned demigoddess couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well," she said between sniggers, "look at it this way, at least you are being recognized for your skills."

Andromeda gave her a glare. "Any child of the sea gods can learn to make ice."

A shrug of the shoulders told Andromeda that she didn't really care. "You're the only one I've seen make ice," she said dismissively before smirking, "_Jackie_."

An animalistic growl escaped the new goddess' lips at that comment. "You are officially on my hit list," Andromeda warned, causing her to burst into peals of laughter.

"Oh, you'll fit right in!" she said, highly amused, grabbing her arm and dragging her along, "come on, I'll show you around! We've got bigger on the inside magic!"

"Huh?" Andromeda asked blankly before she was dragged away, finding herself subjected to more Doctor Who references than she'd ever heard in her whole life.

Hecate House was as shrouded as she thought it would be…it was almost as though the Mist out-poured from the walls, but that would be just plain weird. From what Andromeda could see there were about fifteen Greek kids and twelve Roman kids, interacting without any knowledge that they were on opposite sides. It would have been more impressive if they had known each other's ancestry.

"So, what d'you think?" Angelina asked as they ended the tour. "Gonna stay?"

Andromeda gave the building one last look over. "Maybe," she said slowly, "there's something about this city…" she trailed off, a bit lost in thought. "Let me talk to a few people, Angie, then I'll get back to you."

Her golden eyes shimmered. "I'll start preparing a room, shall I?"

A scowl formed on Andromeda's face and it remained on her face all the way back to Camp Jupiter where she then had a long chat with her fellow senator on the coast of the Tiber River.

"Hecate House…sounds like a safe haven for young witches and wizards than a demigod training facility," Bill mused, chewing slowly on his corned beef sandwich.

"Well, there are a couple witches and wizards," Andromeda conceded, "mostly Trivia's children, but some like me or Carmella."

"Only Carmella's dad was a legit wizard," Bill disagreed, "maybe a bit of a douchebag, but he was wizard."

"Sorry excuse for one," Andromeda grumbled under her breath.

"And she's a soul-seer."

"A what?" Andromeda asked blankly, staring at him with an expression that was rather similar to the one she'd worn when her mind had gone. Bill had to fervently push that thought aside and the shudder that had accompanied it. That had been a rather frightening moment for the more recent members of New Rome who had never seen why exactly Nox Baccry had been exiled from Camp Jupiter to begin with.

"She can see the lives that souls have led," Bill explained patiently, "you know, like past lives."

"I thought those were just stories people told to make life seem better than it is," Andromeda said dryly.

Bill tried very hard to not gape at her. "You really are a real pessimist, aren't you?"

"I do try," Andromeda said with a light shrug, taking a large bite from her ham sandwich. "So these soul-seers can actually see who you were before?"

Bill gave a shrug as well. "Supposedly," he said evasively, "but Carmella's never brought it up, so maybe-"

"Maybe she's just a private person," Andromeda corrected. "She's not really vocal about what she sees or doesn't see…where is she anyways?" She glanced around as if expecting her head to pop out of the rushing surf of the Tiber, but that was doubtful to ever occur.

Bill sipped his pumpkin juice. "Oh, she thought she'd try the weekend at her dad's place."

Andromeda's mouth unhinged and she gaped horror-struck at her fellow senator. "You have got to be _kidding_ me!"

"Nope," Bill said, popping the 'p' obnoxiously. "I dunno why, it's the same result every time."

Andromeda frowned lightly. She understood whole-heartedly the desire to want to please your father, but she knew that in hers and in Carmella's case that was easier said than done. Marlene and Callie didn't have that issue, because Marlene's mother had died in childbirth and Callie's father had been killed when she was a baby. Andromeda thought they were lucky in some ways, not having to deal with the kind of drama that she and Carmella had to.

She couldn't help but brush her fingers lightly against the trident that was carved into her flesh.

"She wants acknowledgement," Andromeda said in a voice that betrayed her exhaustion, "no one can fault her for that."

"No," Bill agreed, "but perhaps she's looking in the wrong direction for it."

"Maybe," Andromeda agreed, staring out into the raging river once more.

"All of you should go to Hecate House," Bill said, diverting her attention to him once more, "who knows? Maybe it'll do you all a bit of good. You lot need to get out and experience the world. Keeping yourselves here and training until you fall over without any real monster-killing experience isn't going to do you any good."

"We've been out a few times," Andromeda said defensively. "And, if you'll remember, the last time I went out, I went bonkers, literally."

"And its not going to happen again," Bill said firmly. "Go, live a little."

Andromeda's glare could melt ice. "If anything bad happens when I'm not here, I'm blaming you," she threatened.

Bill chuckled nervously as she stood with the grace of the wolf (which was ironically the symbol of Fourth Cohort), loping back towards civilization. He frowned at her back, surprised when a form flickered close to her in the image of a young woman with dark hair and a coy smile, but in an instant she faded away, leaving Bill wondering just Andy had been in her past life.


	4. Life and Times of a Temporary Goddess

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter**

**Daughter of Rome: Chapter Four: Life and Times of a Temporary Goddess**

**AN: No reviews for my last chapter, sad face! Anyways, here is the next chapter, enjoy!**

* * *

"Oi, you awake?"

Andromeda stifled a groan, turning her face inwards so it was pressing into the fabric of her mattress. "Marlene, just because I don't need sleep to continue to exist does not mean that I don't like it."

The daughter of Mars grinned impishly before launching herself onto the bed, squashing her goddess friend who gave a pain-filled groan at the weight suddenly dropping onto her stomach. "Oh _gods-!_"

"Now you're awake," she said pleasantly, "so come on!"

Andromeda followed her friend, grumbling in a subdued voice and massaging her "bruised" limbs. "Why can't I just-"

"No!"

She groaned again, but complied, changing into the casual and practical wear that had been something that Carmella had come up with (really, Andromeda swore she was going to be some kind of inventor when she grew up) with come assistance from Marlene. It was a soft brown tunic that was light weighted but very durable, and Andromeda and her four friends preferred it very much to the bulky armor that was the standard at Camp Jupiter. Andromeda liked it, but she didn't really see the point to wearing it when she was immortal, but the firm stare that Marlene had given her gave her no opportunity to argue.

Andromeda couldn't say that she really liked Hecate House –it had too much disorder for her taste, being a Roman and all- being a chaotic sort of environment, but they did get things done, so she couldn't really complain.

Being a patron goddess was little more than a pretty title, really, Andromeda thought she was more like a sponsor of sorts. If the Vulcan/Hephaestus kids needed metal, she got it for them, if the Apollo kids ran out of ingredients for healing ointments, she got it for them. Really, she was too nice, that was her problem.

"Spar! Spar! Spar!" Marlene sang, bouncing up and down as they made their way down to the center of the building.

Andromeda tried very hard not to bemoan her enthusiasm, but that was very difficult when you were best friends with the daughter of a war god. She sighed as she weighed her blade, Harpe, in her hands, shooting out to strike against Marlene's weapon of choice, a short sword, making her grunt at the force behind it, but she quickly became used to it.

The problem with fighting with Andromeda was that she didn't really have a signature move that you could see through before she struck. She carried around enough weapons to supply a small army, as Callie had once complained, but then her friends did the same, so they really couldn't complain. Currently, Marlene had a rare Celestial Bronze knife strapped to her thigh, a miniaturized pilum dangling from the leather bracelet around her wrist and a shotgun dangling from her left ear much like the pilum at her wrist.

Marlene didn't even want to try to count how many Andromeda had on her.

"You don't even need them," she had once complained, trying to wheedle her out of a few weapons, but Andromeda had just shrugged, stating that weapons could come in handy, whether you were immortal or not, so Marlene didn't press the issue.

She ducked Andromeda's next swing, aiming a kick to Andromeda's stomach and knocking her back a few paces.

Marlene smirked, the grin lighting her eyes. "Come on, Goddess-Girl!" she taunted lightly. "Show me what'cha got!"

Even Andromeda's feral grin couldn't stop her in her tracks like it had to so many others. Marlene was far too used to its sight to care, let alone fear it.

"What'cha talking about?" she said. "I was just letting you get a few cheap shots in to smooth your ego!"

Now these jibing comments that the pair often tossed back and forth was rather commonplace, especially when the ones fighting were Marlene and Andromeda. They had entirely too much fun making fun of each other like they did.

Marlene's fighting style was pretty explanatory when you considered just who her godly parent was.

She preferred quick, jarring strikes that aimed to incapacitate (or kill, depending on who she was facing), while Callie preferred strategically placed moves aimed towards disarmament. Now Carmella, who was regularly regarded as the oddity of Fourth Cohort and of those who had Venus' blood pumping through their veins, Carmella was a genius at long-distance fighting. Her skill with the bow was second only to the children of Apollo (many of whom were a bit disgruntled by her progress). Though, she had to consent a number of times to close-range fighting with her friends, because she knew, as all did, that if a long-range fighter found themselves fighting a close-range fighter and they didn't have any practice fighting close-range, they would be in big trouble.

The same thing had happened to Andromeda back when she was still human (ish, being half-god and everything didn't really count as being human in most people's books), that was how she was taken by surprise by Nox Baccry, who had been renowned in long-distance warfare even before Camp Jupiter had exiled him.

What happened to Andromeda was terrible, there was no denying that, but it was also a lesson of what happened if you focused on only one form or warfare. Who knew, maybe the monsters would start getting smart enough to see that as well, but until then, Marlene would prepare herself as best as she could, and maybe even get Winter Snow a bit better with that curved blade of hers.

Winter was a bit weaker than most demigods. Andromeda never mentioned it, but Marlene knew that her eyes watched her like a hawk. She had asked her friend about it once, but Andromeda had been very cryptic about Winter's condition, so Marlene could only assume it was a medical issue and she didn't press the matter.

"Get your head outta the clouds!"

She yelped, dodging to the side to avoid a quick strike to her face. The problem with going against Andromeda was that you had to stay focused all the time, and Marlene, well, let's just say she wasn't the most focused of people.

She was really regretting asking her friend for a duel.

* * *

There she was again, this time sitting on the edge of the stone fountain, her short feet dangling above the ground, kicking her feet forward and back like children often did. She was staring at him rather intently with a slight frown as he skipped over to stand beside her, shuffling the cards in his hands as he did so.

"You came back." Nico hoped he didn't sound too pleased, but she had been the first person that he'd spoken to…in a while (he wasn't sure exactly how long), not including Bianca, of course. Even if she was a bit younger than him, she acted a bit older than she should have.

She eyed him speculatively as he leaned against the brick that wrapped around the little pond that seemed to glow with life. "Yes," she said finally. "I just don't get you."

Nico blinked owlishly at her in a bit of confusion. "Huh?"

"You are a…" she floundered for the proper word to describe the situation, "curiosity."

He arched a dark eyebrow at her. "And you are a complex puzzle," he retorted.

"Thank you," Andromeda smirked smugly.

"That wasn't a compliment."

Her smirk widened. "Yeah, it was."

He lifted a hand, keeping about an inch of space between his first finger and his thumb, making her laugh.

"Don't worry," she said slyly, "I'll figure you out eventually."

"And won't that be boring," Nico said, bumping his shoulder with hers, something that made her stare at him in surprise.

"Hardly," she said dryly, her lips twitching again, "I'm never bored."

"Then you must be very busy," Nico said with a snort, "because I get bored a lot."

She shrugged her small shoulders as if always having something to do didn't bother her too much. "I don't mind," she said, "doing something's better than doing nothing."

Nico simply hummed to her words, flipping through his cards again.

"What is that game that you're obsessed with?" she asked, frowning in befuddlement towards the small pile of cards he was holding in his hands.

"Mythomagic," he said with a bright grin, "it's a trading card game."

He held up one of the cards to show her and she frowned at the stats for Dionysus.

"I think a couple of…cabins at my old camp played that game," she said finally as he returned to his riffling. "I could never get into it."

"Then you're missing out," he said with a bright grin.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "Or maybe you're just an obsessed fanboy," she retorted.

"Hey!" he complained. "Respect your elders!"

She gave him an unlady-like snort. "Right," she drawled out, "you're, what, four years older than me?"

"I'm as ancient as the gods," he proclaimed with a dramatic air that reduced Andromeda to giggles that she attempted to smother with her hand and failed epically.

"Uh-huh," she said sarcastically, "right, you keep telling yourself that."

"I will," he said, acting affronted, looking down his nose at her. Andromeda blinked and stared because she finally understood just who it was that he looked so much like; Hades, the Greek counterpart of Pluto, the only god deemed worse than Neptune in Camp Jupiter.

"I have to go," she said suddenly, stumbling over her words, "I have to go talk to my uncle about something."

"Did I say something?" Nico asked, his face falling.

"No!" Andromeda said quickly to assuage his worries, waving them carelessly aside with the fling of her hand. "Its got nothing to do with you, I just forgot I needed to talk to him, that's all…I'll see you around?"

The toothy grin was back. "I'll be here!"

Andromeda gave him a crooked smile before weaving through the heavy throng of people and out of the always open doors. Unfortunately, that was when she ran into a bit of trouble and that bit of trouble was a starved looking Hellhound that bore its teeth menacingly at her.

The bad thing about monsters was that they didn't really care if you were immortal, they'd still try to kill you like they did before your ascension to goddess-hood.

"_Are you kidding me_?!" Andromeda growled angrily, lurching to the side to avoid the apparently very hungry Hellhound, yelping in pain as its claws slashed through the thigh of her pants.

"Come _on_!" Andromeda bemoaned, yelling at the ground –to Hades, quite obviously-, "What in the name of _Hades_ did I ever do to you, Uncle?!"

The beast roared and Andromeda maneuvered out of the way of its claw with difficulty –the maneuver itself cost her half her shirt. As she landed, she rolled, ankle-over-neck, to where her blade, Harpe, lay, having been tossed aside in her haste to avoid losing her head. Moving quickly, she lurched to her feet, swinging the sword blindly, relying mainly on her muscle memory. When her eyesight finally cleared, the beast was gone, leaving only a small pile of golden dust in its wake, but she didn't seem to care about that.

Andromeda clenched her fists, white-faced and furious, before disappearing into an ocean breeze.

"Hello, Charon."

The ferryman looked up sharply, his face melting into a crude smile. "Ahh, the Ice Queen, I'm guessing you're not here because you're dead?"

Andromeda laughed, leaning on her crooked staff (the only thing that came close to being a symbol of power, but she wouldn't need one of those, as, if Lord Jupiter had predicted it correctly, she wouldn't be immortal for longer than a few years). "No, came close, but no. And wouldn't dying involve being mortal?"

Charon leaned over the desk and winced at how ripped her clothes were and how golden blood-soaked they were. "Looks painful. Hellhound?" He seemed to be ignoring the question. Perhaps he had forgotten that she had been granted immortality; Andromeda tried not to feel too miffed about it.

"Why do you think I'm here?" asked Andromeda wryly, tossing him an exaggerated eye roll which she could have probably pulled off better with she was older, but, what the hell? "Can I go through?"

"Know the way? Bah! Of course you know the way!" He shooed her with his hand as she thanked him graciously.

The scent of Persephone's Garden was overwhelming, but not unbelievably so. Andromeda wandered around the garden, wondering if her uncle was nearby. Unfortunately, the scent was very tantalizing and before she could stop herself, Andromeda found herself reaching for an especially juicy pomegranate.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," an amused voice commented.

Andromeda yelped violently, shooting twelve feet into the air and when she returned to the ground she looked like a properly chastised eight year-old.

"Lady Persephone!" She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, her cheeks a dark hue of red. "Fancy seeing you here!" Persephone was one of the only immortals that she had called initially by their Greek name, mostly because Persephone liked it better than Proserpina. Besides, there was very little difference between Proserpina and Persephone, unlike Athena and Minerva who were polar opposites. Persephone only got a mild headache as opposed to the skull-splitting ones that the Big Three felt. Even if the gods were in their Greek forms, she often slipped them by their Roman names, but they didn't mind too much, as she was getting better about their Greek names, except for Athena who hated being reminded of her Roman counterpart Minerva.

"Yes…fancy that." Persephone's lips curled into a smile and her brown eyes crinkling in the corners. "Imagine finding the Queen of the Underworld…in the Underworld."

"Weird," Andromeda agreed with a nervous laugh, tugging lightly on a blue strand of her hair.

Persephone watched her favorite niece in a mixture of curiosity and concern –she had taken a shine to the young goddess when she began to visit her in the Underworld, to make it less lonely (Andromeda was regretting introducing her to card games, she was a real demon at them)-, "Andromeda…is something wrong?"

Andromeda pondered that for a moment. Obviously she couldn't tell the goddess of springtime about Nico or Bianca, that would just be adding insult to injury, if they were who she thought they were, and she was almost certain of that fact now.

"No, its nothing," she assured her, "its just something that I hope your husband can clear up for me."

"I see," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion, "if you are certain."

"I am, ma'am," she said, giving her a light bow.

"Andromeda Jackson…my this is a surprise."

Andromeda yelped violently once more, shooting once more into the air, pointing her staff at the owner of the voice, and this time a bolt of lightning escaped it, turning a tree into a pool of molten silver.

Hades raised an eyebrow at the silver spreading out over the grass and then at his niece. She wasn't normally this jumpy…how peculiar.

Andromeda swore colorfully in Italian, red patches of color coloring her cheekbones. "_Dolce figlio di Satana_! What's _wrong_ with you people?!"(Sweet son of Satan!)

And for the first time in a very long time, Hades and Persephone shared a smile, because it was very rare to embarrass Andromeda so thoroughly, as she always seemed to be on her guard for any sort of attack.

"You wanted a word, did you not, Niece?" he asked instead, keeping the amusement out of his voice far easily than Andromeda would have imagined.

Andromeda hung in midair, sitting sidesaddle on her staff as if it was a witch's broom, grumbling mutinously as she followed the Lord of the Dead.

"You keep sending Hellhounds after me!" she growled.

Hades raised an eyebrow. "Think of it as training."

"_Training?!_" she practically shrieked. "My whole _life_ has been one whole training exercise! I need some _me_ time!"

Hades merely rolled his eyes at the antics of his niece.

Andromeda blew a strand of hair out of her face, wrinkling her nose as she set her booted feet onto the ground once more. "You know what _fine_, just fine, but I will have you know that I know who the father of Bianca and Nico di Angelo is."

It was almost as if the god of the dead was one of Medusa's victims, (though that was highly unlikely, still, a girl could dream) or to those that didn't understand the term, complete stone.

"Aren't you glad I didn't say anything in front of your wife, now?" Andromeda asked with a more than slightly smirking smile.

Hades unfroze, watching her carefully. "Are you going to tell Zeus?"

The Ice Queen regarded him coolly for a moment before speaking. "No," she said, dropping to the ground in a kneeling position to pick up an emerald the size of a ping pong ball. The gem was cursed, obviously, both because it was in the Underworld, and because it practically radiated death. She frowned slightly; that sounded a bit like the di Angelos, now that she thought about it. The pair emanated the same dark aura as this gem and their father, to a degree. If she had to pick one, she would probably say that Nico had the most of the death god's genes, but she was being a bit biased; she'd hardly seen Bianca for more than a minute or two.

"No?" he repeated in disbelief, his dark eyebrows arching on his pale forehead, and the intense fire in his eyes lessening slightly.

"It's not really my business, now is it? Besides if I told Lord Jupiter (that jibe was to remind him that she had no loyalty towards Greece; she served Jupiter, and Jupiter alone) he would probably kill Ni-them," she said, her cheeks pinking as she caught herself, before her expression became uncharacteristically stormy, "and I would be most displeased."

Hades did not thank her, but Andromeda didn't mind, he was a difficult man displaying or giving love. Andromeda surprised herself with her nerve when she jumped up slightly to kiss his pale cheek and wave goodbye, when-

"_Holy shit_!" she yelled pointing her staff offensively at the ground. "What the hell is that?!"

Hades looked down and a sadistic laugh erupted from his lips; it was a baby Hellhound. Well, Hellhound was a mild term for it; it was a bastard offspring of a Hellhound and some sort of wolf. Thus, the Hellhound had the body shape of a wolf, but larger with jet black fur and glowing red eyes. "It seems you've found a familiar. Merry Christmas, Andromeda." The sarcasm would have been obvious even to someone who didn't even know what sarcasm was.

Andromeda glared mutinously at him at him, trying to move as little as possible as the Hellhound-wolf gnawed gently on one of her legs, its tail wagging as it did so. "Haha, you've had your laugh! Now get it off!"

Hades chuckled. "Maybe you should read up on familiars, Andromeda, they're for life, you know."

Andromeda's shoulders sagged and she looked at him with a completely disbelieving face. "Say _what?!_ You _can't_ be serious?! Uncle! _Uncle!_" Possibly that would be the first and only time she called the Lord of the Underworld 'uncle'.

And Hades left her with the baby Hellhound hugging her leg, hiding his smile in the shadows.

"_Damn you!_"

* * *

Harry was almost certain she was an angel, but he couldn't be quite sure. He barely saw her as it was, she was rather good at disappearing. Every time he saw a flash of white and blue, he had to double check to make certain if it was her or not (usually, it wasn't). But sometimes it was her, the angel-girl with eyes like his and hair like snow and ice (ice was blue, wasn't it? He always used blue for ice when he drew it, so it must be), the girl that sometimes floated a few centimeters off of the ground.

Sometimes she'd catch him looking and she'd wink and raise a single finger to her lips before turning and disappearing in the wind as though she had never really been there in the first place. It was aggravating and Harry was almost sure that he'd made her up.

So he stood impatiently at the bus stop waiting for the school bus to show up (his cousin Dudley was driven by his aunt and uncle, but they refused to drive him), when a voice interrupted his thoughts, "You should do Artemis the Huntress."

Harry blinked and looked to the side, jumping suddenly as he saw the person sitting on the bench. Her legs were crossed and one hand propped open a book while the other was thrown over the back of the bench, radiating that same sort of dangerous aura that people seemed to think he had.

Angel-girl practically oozed confidence, he could tell by the way she was sitting and the way she talked, with that formal tongue that made you feel less than what you were (that was not her intention, but, if you will recall, she was raised by Blood Supremacist Walburga Black and _was_ a goddess). And then she gave him a crooked smile that hardly fit the lilt of her voice at all.

"Hello, Harry," she said.

Now, Harry Potter's ADHD brain was going into hyper drive. How did she know his name? What was her name? Why was she following-

"Your project for school," she continued, "you should do Artemis."

"Er…why?" he asked in confusion.

Her smirk widened. "'Cause Artemis is awesome, that's why. Don't ask silly questions, you goof."

His aunt always said "Don't ask questions, boy," with a sort of contempt that he couldn't fathom, but the way she had said those words with silly and goof, it made them almost seem humorous.

Angel-girl snapped her book shut and stood, yawning widely. "Ah, I should get back before they try to claim I've been kidnapped again (Again? Harry couldn't help but think in bemusement) and stage a rescue party. Later, _Nipotino_ (little nephew)." She dropped the book into his surprised hands and started walking in the opposite direction with her hands stuffed into her army jacket and her hair flying behind her like a kaleidoscope of blue and white.

"Wait!" Harry called after her. "What's your name?"

She turned back slightly to give him that same crooked smile that made him feel smaller than his five years. "Andromeda Jackson, your mum's half-sister. See you around, little nephew."

Harry's jaw unhinged as he watched her go, gaping even as the bus pulled up beside him. This day just got interesting.

**AN: So, I changed Aeton's description a little bit (if you don't know who that is, don't worry, you will soon), but he's still going to be as amazing as always. And please note that Harry is five and he doesn't think as high level-ish as I made it sound, but he is very observant. Sorry if that's a bit confusing! Please review!**


	5. Return of the Lost

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter**

**Daughter of Rome: Chapter Five: Return of the Lost**

**AN: Behold, the next installment of Daughter of Rome! Sorry that I haven't updated in a bit…though I haven't updated Creation in a very long time, so you lot should be grateful! ;) I've been completely obsessed with my new fanfic, A Shift in the Force, so I almost didn't finish this next chapter, because I should be typing the last two pages of my paper, but I'm not! Because I'm a PROCRASTINATOR! Anyways, please enjoy this little chapter that I had to force myself to write in the place of the next chapter of ASINF, and do me a favor and write a few reviews! ;)**

* * *

There were times when being a demigod really, really sucked, and this was one of those horrible times, Callie Evaine thought in irritation.

Two weeks in the mortal world didn't seem like such a stretch when they first started, Callie had to admit, but it seemed like all the monsters had converged on her, Carmella, Marlene, Winter, and Andromeda. Callie was possibly the least injured of them all with a long slice up her arm and a few bruises along the length of her face. Well, when she said least injured, she wasn't including Andromeda who had a habit of self-repairing her cuts and bruises, being a goddess and all. Unfortunately, the rest of them had to heal the old-fashioned way, and that took time, usually time that they didn't have.

Thunder boomed overhead, filling the sky with storm clouds…Zeus must be having a bad day.

Andromeda scowled at the sky as if it had a personal vendetta against her, which was always possible, considering the gods.

"I wouldn't have thought that surviving for two weeks was so difficult," Marlene grumbled, "is it always like this?"

Andromeda's eyebrow twitched slightly. "Its probably because I'm with you," she said dryly, "even though I'm a goddess, a child of one of the Big Three is much stronger than that of other demigods. You'd probably be able to cross the entire continent with only running into a few monsters if-"

"Bad idea," Callie interjected with Winter nodding furiously, holding her knife loosely in her hand while her slowly healing broken arm was wrapped in a sling around her neck.

Andromeda cast them all an annoyed look, before glancing off into the distance. "Looks like we've got a couple of Empousa incoming." Her eyes fell to Carmella who had her arm locked around Marlene's neck in an effort to remain upright, having sustained the heaviest of damage to her leg and abdomen.

"We'll have to split up," she decided without their input. "I'll take Carmella. Marlene, you, Callie, and Winter make your way back to Hecate House. Carmella and I will take the long way round."

Marlene's brown orbs flickered from Carmella to Andromeda and an understanding passed between them that happened too fast for the others to take account of.

"If we don't return within a day," Andromeda continued, "then you can come back out to search for us, alright?"

They grumbled but complied as Marlene transferred Carmella to her friend.

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing that the Empousa will be focused on them?" Carmella wondered aloud, blinking harshly to clear her sight.

"I would think a bit of both," Andromeda said dryly, "come on, I know a safe place where we can lie lo-"

"Andromeda?"

The use of her name had the goddess of ice reaching for the knife concealed at her waist as she turned towards the person who had spoken.

The white hair caught Sally Jackson's eye immediately, as it always did. Normally, it was just the wisps of an elderly man or woman, but this time it was different, this time it was on a young girl. It was spun with blue, but it was too light to be considered natural in the eyes of others.

The bronze knife glowed in the heat of the day, held stiffly at her side, her other arm helping to brace her injured friend against her.

"Andromeda?" she had said the name without meaning to, and instantly, dark sea-green eyes snapped to hers.

She pointed the knife at her, causing the woman to recoil slightly. "How do you know my name?"

"Andy?" her friend hummed at her side, a little out of it. "Wazzgoingon?"

"Andromeda Atalanta," Sally whispered in awe. "That's your name, isn't it?"

The child's grip tightened. "So, what?" Her eyes were accusing and fiery, her posture was firm and ready. Her little girl had been replaced by a warrior weathered by many battles. And that thick accent…that was something she had not been expecting.

"That's the name I gave my daughter," she said weakly.

Andromeda's eyes bulged slightly. "Excuse me?" she demanded. "What did you just say?"

"Andy!" a yell through the crowd came, it was a girl with the grey eyes of Athena. "Furies at six o'clock!"

"Merde!" Andromeda hissed. What was the point of splitting up if the daughter of the wisdom goddess kept coming back? "We'll have to catch you later," she said, her green eyes sweeping over the woman and committing her face to memory. And then she tightened her grip on her friend and rocketed into the sky, leaving her biological mother gaping in her wake.

"Mom?" Her son Percy who was only a year older than his sister tugged lightly on his mother's freely hanging hand, concern coloring his bright green eyes. "Mom, are you crying?"

Sally was indeed crying. The tears were leaving soft tracks down her cheeks as she raised her head and looked up to the heavens, because somewhere up there her little girl was flying around like a bird free from her cage. And that, that just made her day all the more brighter; the fact that Andromeda was alive.

"Its nothing Percy," she said, smiling down at her son, her son who was innocent to the world that his sister was so firmly entrenched in, if what Sally had seen of her could be inferred, innocent to the trials he would soon be facing. And for that, Sally was very thankful.

"Where are we?" was the first thing out of Carmella's mouth the second she awoke. It was dark and musky and she could smell rotting flesh. These weren't very good signs. "Its not some kind of torture chamber, is it?"

Andromeda gave a light laugh at her question. "Not quite. This is the Labyrinth of Daedalus."

Carmella groaned as she attempted to sit up, only to be pushed down once more by Andromeda's gentle hand. "Careful," she warned, "I need to redress your wounds."

Carmella gave a sound of annoyance. Andromeda had always hated that part of getting injured, back when she was a demigod. She would complain and gripe and moan for hours. Sometimes she got her way and other times she didn't. The annoyance shifted to pain as Andromeda drew back her shirt to get a good look at the blood-soaked bandages covering the slice to her stomach. Andromeda cut them free, tossing them into the blackness as she pulled a fresh roll of bandages free from her little bag of tricks. Honestly, Carmella swore she could hide a bloody car in there!

"I-Is it bad?" she couldn't help but ask.

Andromeda considered lying. "Well, it could be worse," she amended, "but we've got some nectar left, and that'll help-"

"Couldn't you just use some of your godly powers or power?" Carmella asked through gritted teeth as her friend poured the godly drink onto her skin, making it burn like hell, but she wasn't going to dignify it with a cry of pain.

"I can't," Andromeda said regretfully. "Its one of the rules, not helping demigods too much."

"Whoever came up with that rule sucked!" Carmella complained.

"Well no one's denying that," Andromeda muttered under her breath as the wound became not quite so deep before tying the bandage tightly around her midsection.

"Oh gods!" Carmella gasped as pain rippled through her body once more.

"Sorry," Andromeda quickly apologized.

"You said…we're in…Labyrinth?" Carmella wheezed with a harsh breath, her cheeks more flushed than usual.

"Yeah," Andromeda said, glancing down the barely illuminated corridor, "sorry, it was the first place that popped into my head."

"S'alright," the daughter of Venus hissed.

"Rest," Andromeda ordered, "we'll move when you've caught a breather."

Apparently her old friend agreed with her because in a matter of seconds her eyes had rolled back in her head and she had fainted. At first, Andromeda had worried –fainting from pain was never a good thing-, but she recognized the healing trance from something her cousin Apollo had described. She frowned slightly. That was an advanced healing art, how did-?

Tears pricked her eyes for the first time in a very long time.

"I wanna protect you, like you protect us!" Carmella had once said…Andromeda couldn't quite recall when, all her childhood memories were a bit of a muddle.

Andromeda tugged on the ratty end of her pale braid, ignoring the tears until they subsided from her frequent blinks. Carmella was, understandably, an oddity to the children and descendents of Venus. She was strong and confident and analytical, but that wasn't to say that those of Venus' blood were ditzy or anything, just that they weren't anywhere close to what Carmella was, a true Daughter of Rome.

A smile tugged at her lips, and though she didn't know it, making her face seem much softer than it usually was, being almost always set in a frown with determination squaring her jaw and giving her an almost lupine appearance.

Andromeda should have taken her own advice and gotten some sleep.

_Perseus could see what they meant when they said that Princess Andromeda was the pride of Aethiopia. Her hair was as dark as a starless midnight sky and her eyes were as bright as a bronze ochre._

_"I can feel your eyes," she said, humored by his attention. It was rare that someone paid so much to her._

_"My sincerest apologies," Perseus said with a low bow._

_"I did not say that I minded," she added with a coy smile as she moved past him, the whicker basket in her arm, brushing against him as she did so, kneeling and searching the earth for the proper medicinal herbs that she had come out to the coastline to search for. Under the cover of doing her job, she allowed herself to glance at him through the curtain of her hair. He was very handsome. His hair was a dark blonde, rare in these parts, and his eyes were a shocking blue. He looked an awful lot like an old friend of Andromeda's mother, Cassiopeia. What was her name again? Ah, that's right, it was Danaë, Princess of Argos, the woman who had been locked inside of a tower and then consequently banished within years of her imprisonment._

_"How is your mother?" she asked him, and not two seconds later he was behind her with his Imperial Bronze blade to her throat. Andromeda struggled not to move._

_"What would you know of her?" he hissed in her ear as she gulped slightly._

_"My mother and yours are old friends," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "I did not mean it as an insult."_

_His blade disappeared from her neck quickly at that and Andromeda breathed easy for a moment._

_"My apologies," he mumbled, bowing his head humbly to her. "I did not mean to frighten you."_

_She eyed him calmly for a moment, not betraying how her heart was racing in her chest at the move he had just done. "It is alright," she finally managed to see, a soft smile twitching onto her lips, "It is not every day that I find a knife aimed at my throat."_

_"I suppose you don't approve much of violence?" he asked in a wry voice._

_Andromeda's shoulders lifted and fell at that comment. "There is nothing wrong with fighting for what you believe in, but violence is not always the most desirable."_

_Perseus could not help but smile in return._

* * *

"Her injuries must not have been as bad as I thought," Marlene mentioned to Andromeda as they leaned against the wall, looking into the small hospital ward of Hecate House.

"The wonders of nectar," Andromeda said in a calm and quiet voice that caught her friend's interest instantly.

"Something wrong?" she couldn't help but ask, her crimson eyebrows furrowing together.

"Hm?" Andromeda lifted her to look at the daughter of Mars squarely in the eyes. The startled expression she was wearing told her that the whitette had been a bit lost in thought. "Can you hold down the fort for a bit, Lene?"

"Sure," Marlene said automatically and without question, "you got something you need to do?"

"A couple," Andromeda admitted, "I should be back in a few hours, but if I'm not, don't get too worried."

"Right-o," Marlene barely had time to say before Andromeda evaporated before her very eyes, reappearing hundreds upon hundreds of miles above Manhattan, on Olympus.

It wasn't a Solstice or an Equinox, so Andromeda wasn't surprised to see that there weren't as many immortals or spirits running around; that would finding him much easier.

"Niece."

Or he could find her, whichever one worked best.

Andromeda bowed lowly at the waist to the king of the gods. "My lord."

Jupiter inclined his head slightly in the barest show of respect to her. Still, it was more than her own father had ever done for her. "Anything to report?"

"I sense that the one you seek is now hidden in Hecate House instead of Camp Jupiter," Andromeda said, falling into step beside him, "but they are…skilled. I have yet to pinpoint which member of Hecate House is the traitor."

Jupiter nodded his head in agreement.

"I will report when I have more information," Andromeda continued, and, without waiting for his dismissal, shattered into hundreds of tiny ice shards.

She reappeared just in time to be bowled over by Nico di Angelo who realized a second too late that he'd looked behind him too long, ramming head long into her, sending them both tumbling down the staircase, amidst a yelp of surprise. When they finally stopped rolling, Nico moaned under his breath at his bruised limbs, lifting himself off the person he'd tumbled with. He blinked. "Andy?"

The girl stirred slightly, groaning slightly, her green eyes blinking open in surprise. "_Nico_?"

"Um…hi?" Nico said eloquently, his statement coming out more like a question.

"Hi…" Andromeda said slowly, cocking her head slightly to peer out of his arms, "Is that Alecto?"

"Friend of yours?" asked Nico, looking back in time to see the Fury erupt into flames, "Is she dead?"

Andromeda jutted out her lip in frustration. "No, she's not a friend of mine, and she's not dead, though she might be when I catch up with her."

When she spoke like that, Nico often had to wonder if she was joking or being completely serious.

Her cheeks dusted a faint pink. "Er…are you going to get off me?"

"Oh!" Nico bypassed her pink and went straight to a beet red as he rolled off her. "Sorry."

"Its alright," Andromeda said, keeping her eyes to the ground. "But I should get going…monsters to chase, family issues to sort out…"

"Family issues?" Nico said in concern. "Is something wrong?"

"No…well, not really," Andromeda amended, "its just…I was thinking of looking for my Mum."

"Your mum?" Nico asked flummoxed.

Her pale eyebrows creased together in a frown. How old was she now? Nico couldn't help but wonder. Eight? Nine? It was so hard to tell.

"Did I ever tell you about my family?" she asked him, looking him straight in the face with her usually unnerving eyes, but Nico didn't mind the intensity that they held. The eyes had seemed too old for her face, that had been his first thought when they'd met. It was one of the things that made her so…puzzling.

"No," he said slowly, "why?"

Andromeda sighed slightly, sitting back down on the floor and Nico followed suit, his curiosity piqued.

"I was kidnapped when I was just a few days old," she said with a wince, as if she didn't like remembering what had happened, even if she couldn't remember it, "by this woman called Walburga Black."

"Strange name."

She cracked a smile at that. "Well, you're not wrong there," she muttered. "Anyways, Walburga raised me like I was her daughter, but she was a terrible mother. I only found out about my other family when I was about…seven, I think." She frowned slightly. "I have a nephew in Britain who's only a few years younger than me, and I've got a mother and a brother in New York."

"Have you ever met any of them?" Nico asked her.

A grin graced her lips. "I've met my nephew, Harry," she said, "he's quiet, and sweet…not very much like me," she realized.

"Maybe you're secretly angelic," Nico surmised with a wink, earning him an eye roll.

"Yeah," she snorted, "that's likely. Anyways, I kind of ran into my mother earlier today, so I was thinking of going and finding her…and…I don't know." She buried her face in her hands. "What if she doesn't like me?"

She spoke those words with such fear that Nico could have sworn that he was talking to someone other than Andy. It was so unlike her.

"She won't hate you," he assured her.

"How can you be sure?" she demanded, a fire igniting in her eyes, making it look like her eyes were green kaleidoscopes, reflecting so many shades of the colors.

"Just go find your mother," Nico said, pulling her to her feet and steering her towards the entrance to the Lotus Hotel and Casino. "And when you come back, you can tell me all about what those monsters that attacked me were."

Andromeda opened her mouth to speak, when Nico beat her to it.

"_Arrivederci (Goodbye),"_ he told her shortly before pushing her through the doors.

"I'll get you for this!" she called behind her, to which he just waved cheerfully.

* * *

The moment that Sally Jackson felt the wave of heat, she knew that she wasn't alone. That fireplace hadn't worked as long as she, Percy, and Gabe had lived in the apartment. Moving slowly, clutching a blunt kitchen knife in her hand as she turned around the corner.

She had her hands hovering over the logs in the fireplace, raising her hand so that the fire grew with her hand.

Sally gulped. She recognized the white and blue hair instantly and when the child turned, she was graced with that face that both resembled her and didn't.

"Hello," Andromeda said calmer than she felt, "we didn't get a chance to talk last time…I was a little busy…" She twisted her hands uncomfortably in front of her, a habit that she had no way of knowing that she had picked up from the woman before her.

"Hello," Sally said, just as quietly, her groceries forgotten, "I," her voice faltered, "I wasn't sure if you knew who I was."

Andromeda glanced out of the window. "Mercury told me who you were…my cousin is great at gathering information."

Mercury…so that was Hermes? Sally couldn't help but think that it was strange how she referred to the god as her cousin. She seemed to be very familiar with him, and perhaps with a number of the gods.

"I see," Sally said. This conversation was growing thick with tension (or was that her daughter's demigod powers acting up?) as mother and daughter tried to get past awkward idle conversation.

She allowed herself to look over the child that she should have raised with a forlorn sigh. Dangerous was one way to describe the eight year old, regal was another. Sally was pretty sure that she hadn't gotten those cheekbones from her, or that fashion sense (she seemed to have a thing for camouflage).

"So…is this where we hug and I tell everything that has happened to me in the past eight years?" Andromeda asked uncomfortably, rubbing the heel of her black combat boot against the ground. Her attention was fixed on the ground, so she didn't notice her mother's arms coming around her until she had already hugged her tight. Reflexively, Andromeda instantly stiffened, but after a few moments, she relaxed and raised her arms to awkwardly hug her back. Not many people had ever hugged her, and none like her mother' tight, strangling, but warm and comforting at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Andromeda couldn't help saying. "I'm sorry that it took me so long to find my way home."

"Its alright, oh gods, I thought I'd never see you again!" Andromeda could hear the tears in her voice even before she saw them when they parted. Sally held her face in her hands, cradling Andromeda's cheeks as if she was a fragile item that could drop and shatter at any moment.

"Oh, you've grown up so beautifully!"

"Mum!" Andromeda's cheeks flushed under her hands. "I'm only eight!" Were all mothers like this? Andromeda had to assume so.

Sally couldn't help but smile at how she gave one of those automatic responses, like all children did, but then she called her 'Mum.' She knew that her daughter must have been raised in Britain with an accent like that, so 'Mum' made more sense than 'Mom,' and she was a little glad that each of her children called her by something else. She wasn't sure why, though.

"You're still the prettiest eight year old I know," Sally said, pressing a motherly kiss to her forehead, making her blush harder.

"Because you don't have a biased view, or anything," Andromeda grumbled under her breath, wrinkling her nose slightly.

"Mothers never have biased views," Sally assured her, "just Jacksons. And I'm sure your brother would agree."

Andromeda flushed again, bowing her head slightly. "My brother…what's his name?"

"Percy, short for Perseus."

Well, that was awkward, Andromeda had to admit. Andromeda and Percy were husband and wife, the king and queen of Mycenae, imagine being brother and sister and being named after them.

Andromeda didn't have much time to contemplate that as the door swung open and a loud voice proclaimed "I'm home!"

She could only wonder if her brother looked anything like her father or her nephew.

**AN: And I have finished another chapter! Yay! I have also reached my goal of updating three fanfics in one weekend, so now I should be getting back to my other homework…fun…I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I had a very difficult time writing how Andy and her mother were going to meet, because the way I did it last time majorly sucked! I'm trying to minimize the romance that I had overflowing in the last version of this fic, because, in the end, I wasn't really a fan. So this will be a bit of a slow build-up! Anyways, thanks for reading, and please review, I really appreciate them! **


	6. Eyes of the Sea

**Disclaimer: Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter **

**Daughter of Rome: Chapter Six: Eyes of the Sea**

**AN: To whoever did this, I'm a little…disappointed. So, Daughter of Rome was put into a community, but, get this, it was a community for Fem-Harry. The thing is, Andy is definitely an OC and I've listed her parentage repeatedly and I've even mentioned how Harry is undoubtedly male. So, that left me a bit confused. But to the person who added me to the group, I am sorry if I didn't make it clear enough, but would you be so kind and remove it, because I don't find it accurate at all.**

**Anyways, this is going to be the last chapter before Lightning Thief officially begins! I'm really excited!**

* * *

Andromeda didn't even have time to prepare herself when her brother stepped into the room, his eyes meeting hers in a matter of seconds, the green turning into pools of confusion. Andromeda couldn't help but try her hardest not to flinch, because he looked an awful lot like her father. And a lot like Harry.

He was dark unruly hair just like her father, and his skin had a bit more color to it than Harry did, but Harry was British. His eyes, she thought, looked more like Harry's than hers. Carmella had once told her that they looked more like fractured green glass than the sea, and Andromeda was inclined to agree.

She could see no similarities between her and this Greek. She was a warrior, while he had no knowledge of the world she had been raised in.

Regal was the first word that came to Percy Jackson's mind (it meant like a queen; his mom had told him that once) when he laid his eyes on her. Shoulders back, spine straight, feet spaced evenly, eyes cold, and hair neatly pinned away from her face. The dark clothes, the sarcastic lips, the pierced ears made her look like the most dangerous person he would ever meet, and then there was the fact that her body was tensed, as if ready to flee at any second.

"Hello," he said, "who're you?"

She blinked eyes oddly at her, her pale eyebrows furrowing into a slight frown. "I'm Andromeda, but everyone calls me Andy." That was her automatic response whenever people asked her what her name was. "You're…Perseus?" The Greek name twisted oddly on her tongue.

"Percy," he corrected automatically, his lips puffing outwards slightly into the barest of pouts as he frowned. "Andromeda…like my sister Andromeda?"

"So, I've been told," Andromeda said.

Her eyes were sharp and cautious and Percy had a feeling as though she was analyzing him.

"I wasn't expecting my brother to look so much like Father," she admitted, making him start, before moving forward to envelop her in a rather sudden hug.

The movement surprised her; it was the last thing that she would have expected. She would have thought that maybe her mother wouldn't talk about her missing daughter to her brother, maybe hoping Andromeda would fade into obscurity, forgotten. It was rare that children borne of the same mortal and same god with the god having a child from both of his sides (Greek and Roman) could live peacefully under the same household.

Andromeda had no love for Greece, of that, she was certain, but she would endure it for the sake of him.

Her stiff shoulders relaxed slightly and she finally raised her arms to wrap around his shoulders. "Hello…Percy."

"Hello," he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder, before he drew back and scrubbed furiously at his eyes, making her smile, a smile that her own mother, standing in the doorway, reflected.

Andromeda couldn't help but feel awkward in this situation. She wasn't really good at talking to people, much less people who didn't know her at all, despite sharing a blood connection to her.

Percy was obviously the side of the sea on a very clear day, you could see so far down into it that you could count the fish and coral within, but Andromeda was the sea in the middle of a storm, raging without restraint, hiding the beauty beneath the surface, and leaving scars on passing ships.

Andromeda scratched her cheek uncomfortably. "Maybe I should just lea-"

"No!" Mother and son said at the same time, making Andromeda stare at them as if they were out of the world. "Please," her mother added, "we're all new to this…please stay."

Andromeda rubbed her against her curled pointer finger, but she relented, sitting down on the vacant couch.

"I wish I could tell you everything," she said after a long moment, "but I would be breaking a lot of laws if I did."

"Why?" Percy asked in complete confusion.

Andromeda shrugged her shoulders, but the move was anything but casual. "That's just the way it is," she said in a voice that demanded no argument. "I can tell you that the woman who…took me was named Walburga Black, she's, or she was, a very important person back in Britain, the head of one of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses, it's like a group of really old and really rich families," she tried to explain to her older brother who looked a bit confused at her wording (this was what happened when you were raised by a noblewoman). "I don't know why she did it, she never told me."

"This Black woman," her mother said, feeling a righteous anger welling inside of her at the mention of the woman who had taken her baby from her, "she's dead?"

"Old age," Andromeda agreed. "I didn't even know I was adopted until the day she died. She wasn't…" Andromeda's words trailed off slightly and her eyebrows melded together as she lost her train of thought. "I really don't know what there is to talk about," she admitted a bit helplessly. "I was so used to it being just me and Harry."

"Harry?" Sally asked.

"Sorry," Andromeda said in slight embarrassment, "he's my nephew, the son of my half-sister, and I suppose yours as well," she added to Percy, "his mother was Lily Potter."

Sally vaguely remembered that red-haired woman who had come to her sister's birth. If she was to compare both daughters of the sea god side by side, she was certain that the similarities would be few in number, still, she waited and listened patiently as her little girl opened her mouth and spilled her secrets, or, at least the ones she could tell them.

* * *

"So, how'd it go?"

"Fine," Andromeda said shortly, fiddling with the buttons of the pinball machine while either di Angelo child hovered on either side of the machine.

Bianca gave her an incredulous look. Over the past few weeks (because, if you'll remember, time passed slowly, so she and her brother had no way of knowing that it had been months since they'd met) Bianca had come to like her little brother's friend, though not nearly as much as he did.

"Well, it was a bit awkward," Andromeda admitted, "but Percy and my mum are really nice."

"Are you going to go see them again anytime soon?" Nico asked her with a bright grin.

"Yeah, er, I think," Andromeda said uncomfortably, "they seemed pretty keen on it…though I don't think Mum's husband likes me too much, but Percy says he doesn't like him either, so…"

Andromeda cursed under her breath as the pinball escaped her yet again.

"I'm sure it'll get better," Bianca said in what she hoped was a soothing manner.

"Maybe," Andromeda grunted before brightening slightly, "Its Harry's birthday on Friday, and he said he wants to meet everyone in the family, so that'll be fun." She grinned. "Mum's really looking forward to it, another kid to dote on, or something like that…" She hadn't been quite sure how her brother and mother would respond to Harry who was only a few years younger than her, but they seemed to take in stride.

The only part about herself and Harry that she elected to tell her family was of the magical blood in their veins. Percy thought it was very cool that she was a witch, but she doubted that he understood much of what it meant to be one, but that was fine, Andromeda didn't mind too much.

"What're you planning on doing?"

Andromeda shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno. I think we're going to have some kind of picnic in the park. Harry doesn't get out a lot, or have much fun," she added almost as an afterthought.

"That's so sad!" Bianca said in horror.

Andromeda shrugged. She didn't have the heart to say that Harry probably was getting off easy compared to her life.

"So are you going to tell us about the whole monster thing?"

Andromeda's hand slipped and accidentally slammed against one of the sides of the pinball machine. She shook out her hand, gritting her teeth slightly as she uttered his name. "Nico di Angelo!"

"What? It's an honest question!" he retorted without any heat. "Besides you promised."

She tossed a fiery scowl his way. "I didn't agree to that."

"C'mon, Andy!" Nico whined, making it sound very much like he was the eight year old and Andromeda was the twelve year old. "Please!"

The puppy dog eyes were a good touch, she had to admit, but he wouldn't break her so easily.

"Look," she said in a dark voice that drew their attention immediately, "even telling you that could be dangerous, it could lead to…" She didn't want to say death, but it could have been easily inferred. She sighed again. "Are you absolutely sure you want to know?"

"Definitely!"

Clearly the pair didn't understand the severity of the situation, and Andromeda felt even more uncomfortable speaking with this to the children of Greek gods as opposed to Roman ones (personal preference, she supposed), well, it was their loss. She only hoped that their father wouldn't kill her for it.

"What do you know," she finally asked, "of the Olympians?"

"Olympians?" Bianca asked blankly as Andromeda jumped on top of the gaming machine, swinging her legs forward and backwards. "Like the athletes?"

"Eh?" Andromeda asked flummoxed. "No, I mean the Olympian Gods, you know, of Greece?" She bit back adding 'of Rome', it would be best to not get into that bit.

"You mean like Zeus, Artemis, Hades, those kinds of gods?" Nico asked, making Andromeda slam a hand over his mouth and look nervously downwards to the floor and then upwards to the sky.

"Don't speak their names so freely," she warned, "the power of names is an ancient one."

Bianca looked at her as though she had gone mad, but Andromeda was used to that kind of look.

"The gods are real, believe me, sometimes I wish they weren't," Andromeda muttered that last part to herself. "Sometimes they come down from Olympus, or wherever they spend their time these days, and they have children with mortals, and these children were known as demigods."

"Demigod?" Nico asked in confusion.

Andy sighed, and nodded. "I'm sure you must have at least heard of a few of them…like Helen of Sparta, Perseus, Heracles, the children of Jupiter, or perhaps Orpheus, son of Morpheus and the Muse, Calliope."

"But those are just stories," Nico said, wondering why she was speaking like demigods were real, and still around.

"Even stories, legends even, have a basis of fact and truth," she told him gravely, and for a moment she seemed different, older. In the place of the eight year old child he saw a brown-eyed dark haired woman…_Andromeda_, he realized, the original Andromeda, the one from the Greek legend. And then a very confused Andy was blinking and rubbing her eyes, moaning, "What happened?"

"I think you spaced out." Nico gave her a sheepish grin that made her blush.

"Right…Where was I? Never mind…" Andy rubbed her temple like she had a massive headache. "Anyways these children are still around, you're looking at one."

Twin brown eyes stared at her.

Andromeda contemplated mentioning her immortality, but they probably wouldn't believe that. Baby steps.

"Hello," she said waving her fingers at them.

"No," Bianca said, "no, you're not."

Andromeda arched an eyebrow before directing her eyes to the ground where frost and ice and sprung out of nothing, completely encasing Bianca's feet. She almost fell as she stumbled backwards, but the ice faded as quickly as it came.

"I'm pretty sure I am," Andromeda disagreed, "trust me, I know my father."

She spoke the word 'father' with such bitterness that Nico had to stare.

"Let me know when you think I'm not lying." Andromeda turned on her heel and evaporated into mist before Nico could say a word to call her back.

* * *

Andromeda's battered converses kicked at stray rocks as she came across them along the dirt road, muttering angrily to herself.

Andromeda sighed, tying back her long hair before thrusting her fists into her pants. The whistling of the wind and the mixture of that foreign scent on the air had Andromeda whipping her head around, her right hand tensing over the knife strapped to her thigh. She recognized that scent…Bianca and Nico reeked of it –not in a bad way, of course, but it was a very particular scent. It was danger, like 'hey you're in enemy territory, run for your life!' danger. Andromeda's pace quickened until she was running down the path, towards the pine tree in the distance. She stopped suddenly, skidding on the dirt road as she came face to face with the tall pillars that met with a horizontal block made of the same marble spelling out in Ancient Greek: Camp Half-Blood.

"Oh shit," Andromeda swore quietly, gaping at the sign. "Shit! Shit! Its _graecus_!" (greek) She could handle being near the Greeks at Hecate House, no problem, but there were Romans picked in with them, the same could not be said for this camp. She didn't respond well to Greek.

But her eyes were drawn away from the entrance to the pine tree that sat beside it. She raised an eyebrow. "Hello, human essence in nature form… never seen that before."

She placed a hand on the trunk and gasped, "_Santo Giove_! You're still alive!" (Holy Jupiter!)

_*Who's there?*_ a ghostly voice asked and Andromeda spun around so fast that she gave herself whiplash.

"Who said that?" she demanded to the open air, pointing her Imperial Gold knife menacingly.

The voice gasped. _*You can hear me?*_

Andromeda was about to retort with a smart-alecky reply when she saw her. She was almost transparent and glowing blue. Her black hair was styled punk-like and freckles dotted her nose, in fact everything about her screamed punk –the hair, the piercings, the clothes, all of it. She was perched in the branches eyeing her with shockingly blue eyes.

Andromeda climbed into the tree, so she was sitting on the branch opposite the girl. "What's your name?"

The girl gasped and tears welled up in her eyes. "Did I say something wrong?" asked Andromeda in confusion.

She shook her head, clapping her hands together in glee, with a beaming smile that could outshine the stars. _*No one's been able to see or hear me for years!*_

"How awful!" Andromeda gasped. She would probably drive herself mad if she couldn't talk to anyone else…that is, if it hadn't already been done.

The girl nodded sadly. _*My name is Thalia, daughter of Zeus.*_

"Zeus? Like Jupiter?"

_*Jupiter?*_ Thalia asked in confusion.

"Oops," Andromeda muttered, wincing slightly, "Jupiter is what the Romans called Zeus; I was just raised knowing the gods by their Roman names." It was a pretty truthful lie…in fact, she was quite certain that she wasn't lying at all.

_*Ah.*_ Thalia nodded in understanding, though she didn't really understand. _*So, you're a demigod?*_

"I used to be, but I was granted immortality over a year and a half ago," Andromeda explained with a goofy face as she hung upside-down from a branch, "My name's Jack Frost, Goddess of Ice and Tides, but my real name is Andromeda, I'm the daughter of Neptune…er…Poseidon, I mean…so, I guess that kind of makes us cousins."

Thalia giggled as Andromeda made faces at her.

"What are you doing up in the tree, young demigod?" an aged voice inquired and Andromeda gazed down. It was a centaur.

"Ahh!" she yelped in shock, climbing higher into the pine, while Thalia watched her curiously.

She peeked through the foliage, finally getting a good look at them. The centaur was eyeing her like he was deciding what kind of seasoning would go best with female demigod and the girl -who must have been at least eleven- frowned at her like she couldn't decide if Andromeda was good news or bad news. Andromeda hoped she was bad news, she liked being bad news; for her bad news was good, when you were bad news you didn't feel the obligation to be good.

Andromeda grimaced at her new friend, looking like a girl who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but Thalia merely shrugged.

The child goddess pointed her staff –which had suddenly materialized in her grip- menacingly at the pair. "What I'm doing up here is none of your business, a better question is: Who are you?"

"Chiron, the trainer of heroes," the horse-man spoke politely, "And this is Annabeth, daughter of Athena."

"Oh!" Andromeda gave an outright laugh. "Sorry, I thought you were a _real _centaur!" She was referring to that centaurs were born of Ixion and Nephele, and he was the son of Saturn and Philyra.

Annabeth stepped forward, anger lighting her grey eyes. "How dare y-"

But Chiron stopped her. "Not many know of my lineage," he called up to the tree in a voice that rang with caution, "why don't you come down so we can see you?"

"Who are you talking to?" Andromeda asked them in amusement from the ground.

Andromeda struck her staff into the earth and ice sprouted where the base had smashed into the ground. "I'm guessing you're looking for me." She cocked an eyebrow and placed a hand on her hip, leaning slightly on her crooked crook.

"Yes," Chiron said slowly, she hadn't been trained by him, that was for sure, he would have known if he'd had a hero that looked like a Nereid, "What is your name, youngling?"

Andromeda threw the staff up in the air and caught it again, twirling it like a baton, a lazy smirk present on her lips. "My name is Jack. Jack Frost, Goddess of Ice and Tides."

* * *

Harry hummed in content, swinging his arm linked with his young aunt's.

"And we can go to the Underworld?" he asked in excitement. "And Atlantis? And-"

"Yes, yes," Andromeda said with an airy wave. She was less than pleased about having to take Harry down to her father's palace, but a promise was a promise. And Andromeda never went back on her promises, even if it took her into a domain she did not wish to enter into.

"Aunty? What's wrong?" Harry peered curiously up at her, squeezing her fingers slightly. Faintly, she wondered if his mother had been like his is now when she was a little girl. She blinked fervently, pushing aside those thoughts and tears before they could emerge.

Andromeda gave him a smile, but he could tell something he had said made her a little upset. "It's nothing," she assured him before changing the subject quickly, "we'll be going to the Underworld first, come along."

That brought the smile quickly back to his face once more, and he beamed as they walked through the streets of Los Angeles, California.

"Here we are."

Harry stared up at the building. "D…O…A…"

"Dead On Arrival."

The Underworld was not a lovely place, it was not heaven, but it was not hell either. The only good part, the only really nice part about the Underworld was Elysium, and the Isles of the Blest, oh that was a place she was looking forward to spending a lifetime in.

"What's Elysium?"

She must have spoken it out loud. Oops.

"You'll see," she said in a vague sort of voice as she swept him up into her arms and jumped. Harry was used to his aunty's shoes that could fly, and Aunt Mella's eternal complaints towards them, but…shouldn't they have just gone through the front door?

"Whoa!"

The Underworld was bigger than he had anticipated, and not as impressive, talk about it being a downer. It looked like airport security checks, very lame.

His aunt laughed when he mentioned it. "Don't worry," she said, "it might not look so impressive now, but just you wait, it gets better."

He'd have to take her word for it, and it was a good thing too, because once they got past Cerberus, everything got infinitely better, or maybe that was just the Thanatos (or Letus as his aunt called him, using the Roman name) blood in him talking. The Fields of Punishment were kind of crazy, but Andromeda said "don't do anything bad, and you won't end up there", and he had decided to follow that, because she sounded completely serious when she said it. The Fields of Asphodel looked really boring, so he could only hope that he didn't end up there, and Elysium looked amazing!

"But you won't need to worry about Elysium for quite some time," Andromeda assured him, "if you die young, I'll kill you?"

Harry wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "Huh?"

"Don't worry about it," Andromeda said dismissively. "Come on, there's someone who wants to meet you."

"Who?" Harry asked, his voice eager, his mind turning automatically to his dead parents, but she did not take him to Elysium where he was certain his parents now resided, unless they went on to be reincarnated, which was entirely possible.

"Someone who has watched your upbringing with great interest," she said cryptically as they weaved past spirits in the Asphodel Fields. "Ah, there he is."

Harry's breath caught in his throat at the sight of the one thing in the fields that wasn't a ghost. His first thought was: Angel. The man was certainly beautiful enough to be one (then he felt embarrassed because he thought he was beautiful and because he had first thought that his aunt was an angel).

"Who don't you go say hello?" Andromeda asked him lightly, her eyes twinkling as she nudged him in the direction of the being that must had been Thanatos (Letus, he mentally corrected himself).

He didn't really have much of a choice, and his legs felt like jelly, but he still moved forward.

Thanatos' eyes automatically met his and he couldn't resist gulping; his grandfather's presence was far more impressive than his aunt's.

And then the god smiled and he said his name with such affection that Harry almost cried. But he couldn't resist throwing his arms around his waist and holding on for dear life, not caring who was watching.

And he was still smiling not thirty minutes later, after their tour of Atlantis had concluded, with Andromeda flat out refusing to take him to meet his grandfather ("I can only handle so much of his presence") before they met up with Winter outside of the park they were going to be picnicking with Percy and her mother in.

"Are you sure I can come?" Winter asked for what was probably the thousandth time that day, and probably that week.

"Yes," Andromeda said with a sigh, "Mum said its fine."

Winter fell abruptly silent as they approached the pair.

"Is that them?" Harry asked feverishly, pointing at the woman and boy who were occupying a spread blanket. The woman was pretty in an older sort of way, in a motherly way. Her straight brown hair was nothing like her daughter's white curly locks (not including the blue that was obviously not natural), but the boy she was with had the same green eyes as her, and they brightened when he saw her.

"Andy!"

Andromeda hardly had any time to blink before he had raced to her side and thrown his arms over her shoulders, squeezing her as tightly as a nine year old could.

"Careful, _fratello (brother)_," Andromeda grunted, "I think you just broke a few bones."

"Sorry!" Percy apologized quickly. "Hi Winter!"

Winter blinked rapidly at the boy she had fondly come to view as a cousin of sorts, at the boy who had a very serious case of ADHD. "Uh, hi."

"This is Harry Potter," Andromeda offered as she tugged her nephew forward, since he had retreated behind the safety of her back. "His mother was Lily Evans, she was father's oldest daughter."

Percy stared at her then at Harry. "Really?" he asked in awe. There couldn't have been much of an age difference between him, Andy, and Harry.

"Hello," Harry said shyly as Andromeda's mother came to meet them, the smile still on her face as Harry hid his face in Andromeda's side once more.

Sally smiled. "Oh, Percy, I remember when you were that shy."

"Mom!" Percy complained, blushing brightly as his sister and her friend laughed, and even his nephew (strange to think of having a nephew at nine) smiled.

As soon as Sally saw Harry, she laughed. "You two could be brother's!" she said. "You're practically identical!"

Percy and Harry looked at each other, as if trying to see how alike they looked, when they both shrugged identically, making the woman and the girls laugh.

"This is Harry," Andromeda introduced him again, this time to her mother, "Harry, this is my mum, Sally, but you can call her Gran."

Harry beamed and waved.

She waved back with a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Harry."

"Hello," he said quietly.

Winter's eyes shifted to Andromeda's and she winked. "Hey, Percy, how about you and me show Harry how to play Frisbee? Come on!"

She didn't give him much time to argue before dragging both boys towards the open space with a plain yellow Frisbee in hand.

For a moment, mother and daughter simply watched the three having fun and making fun.

"You worry about him, about Percy" Andromeda noted after a long silence had passed, "you worry a lot."

A pale flush adorned Sally's cheeks at the perceptiveness of her daughter.

"Percy's not a bad kid," she continued, "one day he'll be a great demigod." Her eyes were soft as she watched nephew and uncle fling the Frisbee back and forth. "Thank you," she added, "for letting Harry come, it's been all he can talk about."

Sally smiled at the bright grin that was pasted to the British-born legacy. "He seems like a sweet boy, he reminds me of his mother."

"I thought you didn't know Lily for long?" Andromeda said with a frown that made her look like her father.

"Not long," Sally admitted, "but long enough to know that she was a good person."

Andromeda's eyes met hers and she smiled, and even though it looked a trifle troublemaking, Sally couldn't help but be pleased at its appearance.

"Go, Andy," Sally said with a smile, "you're only a kid once. I'll set everything up."

And watching her daughter race away to snag the Frisbee out of the air before Winter could grab it, thus ensuing a battle of wills between the two girls that had the two boys in stitches, Sally Jackson couldn't help but think it was all worth it.

**AN: And part one of Daughter of Rome is complete! Sorry if this chapter is a little sloppy, I probably shouldn't have updated twice in one day, but oh well! Enjoy and review, though it might be awhile before the next one, sorry!**


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